Green Queen
by paisley is a kind of pattern
Summary: Sequel to Pernicious. Teri finds that her place in the Weyr is not as solid as she had hoped. A ban on flying, an egg-laying green dragon, and bandits contribute to making her life a little more interesting.
1. Chapter 1

Hello! Thanks for reading! So, this is a rewrite of a story I started a few years ago and never had the time to finish until now. I'm sorry I left the first version hanging for so long. Here it is, finally, with some new bits and some old bits. Most importantly, it is finished and will be uploaded in its entirety over the next few weeks. I hope you enjoy it!

CHAPTER 1

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><p><em>Thud, thud…thud, thud…<em>

"Are you ready, Ri?" Aren's voice asked in her ear, above the sound of her pulse.

Teri forced her eyes open and took a deep breath of beast-scented air. Huffing out an impatient whinny, the runnerbeast shook its head, tossing its brown mane into Teri's face. Its shoulders rolled and shifted beneath her as it stamped each foot. She looked between its pointed ears at the green track of pasture, curving around the outer limits of the Beasthold's fields.

_Thud, thud…thud, thud…_

"Ready," she squeaked.

"Okay. I've got you, don't worry." Aren's skinny arm snaked around her waist from behind and held her tight against him.

"Let go, Ren," Teri protested, wriggling in her brother's grip. "You're squishing me."

"Make sure you hold onto her, Aren," their mother said sternly, the creases around her brown eyes belying her anxiety.

"She won't stop squirming," the boy said in exasperation, his voice cracking.

"I can stay on by myself," Teri shouted.

Their mother stepped forwards to grab the runner's bridle, steadying it. "Listen to me, Teri," she said. "If you keep moving around like that, you'll scare the runner and both you and your brother could get hurt. You need to stay still and let Aren hold you, because you're still too little to ride by yourself. You understand me?"

"Yes, mum," Teri said, ashamed. She sat up straight, obediently lifting her elbows to let Aren hold onto her waist.

"Now be careful, Aren," said their mother.

"I will," he replied solemnly, with all the confidence of a boy of twelve turns. She nodded and relinquished the reins to her son.

"Just one turn around the field, you hear? Then straight back. None of your wanderings or high-minded adventures."

"I've got it, mum," Aren said. Teri gripped her brother's arm in excitement. Then, with a hard nudge of Aren's heels into the beast's flanks, they were off, the wind cold in Teri's bright face.

_Thud, thud…thud, thud…_

"Are you ready, Teri?"

Teri opened her eyes, her reverie broken. Shadows of the memory still lingered sweetly in her mind, but this was no time to be daydreaming.

"I'm ready, R'meri," she replied. She gripped the riding straps hard and wiggled her toes in her wherhide boots. Her legs were strapped securely into the harness. She had double- and triple-checked each buckle, her fingers growing more and more familiar with the different pieces of riding gear. Behind her, R'meri shifted slightly in his seat, adjusting the extra straps they had added to allow for two secured riders. His close proximity sent her heart skipping, and she was glad she had her back to him so he couldn't see her blushing. Beneath her was Aeneth, a solid presence despite the fact that she was seldom still. Muscles constantly rippled and flowed underneath her smooth hide, a reminder of dragonkind's immense power.

_Are you ready, Aeneth?_

The green rumbled in response, the reverberations moving through Teri's body.

"Aeneth's ready," Teri said.

"Let's take her up, then."

Teri nodded, her heart thudding beneath her wherhide. She let out a nervous breath and mentally repeated the pledge she had made over a turn ago.

_For Aren._

A dull _whoosh_ behind her denoted Aeneth's wings unfurling. The dragon's shoulders shifted massively and wind rushed into Teri's face, her head bobbing back at their sudden ascent. Aeneth's wings beat evenly, almost effortlessly, as they lifted their double weight.

_Thud, thud…thud, thud…_

Chills ran up and down Teri's spine at the unmistakable feeling in her stomach of flight. Ever since her first time flying with N'hal on Rinth, she treasured the sensation of upward motion. The harness creaked and pressed into her legs as it stretched to accommodate Aeneth's movements.

_We're flying, Aeneth!_ Teri said, a grin spreading across her face. After a turn of restless waiting and frustrating disappointments, her dream was finally being fulfilled.

When the initial euphoria of impressing Aeneth over a turn ago had faded, Teri's great expectations of finding a useful and important place as a dragonrider in the Weyr began to crumble beneath the weight of harsh reality. Instead of training with the other weyrlings in her hatching, she was sent to the queen's wing, to buy time. No one knew what to do with a blind dragonrider. Although B'nonin made every effort to handle the situation fairly, it was no surprise that J'den secured the Weyrleadership when Myrnoth next rose. Few people criticized B'nonin openly for Teri's impression, because it was N'hal's fault that the girl got anywhere near the Hatching Ground anyways. Even so, no one was sorry to see him step down. And with J'den came the ultimatum that Teri and Aeneth were to remain grounded, making good his oath that they would never fly.

Teri smirked. She almost wished that J'den could see her now, cruising above the Weyr. Almost. Things would get ugly if the Weyrleader discovered them. R'meri risked J'den's considerable wrath to teach Teri how to fly, and she cared for him far too much to see him punished, especially if it were on her account.

The night flying lessons were R'meri's idea, hatched during one of his long vigils on night watch on the heights of the Weyr. He had come to her a few mornings later with the proposition, his voice lowered in a conspiratorial whisper. When all the Weyr was asleep, there was no one to see or stop Aeneth from stretching her wings, with Teri astride. They had Faire procure leather from the Weyr storerooms and R'meri taught Teri how to sew a harness during his free time. Soon enough, it was ready and R'meri drew night watchman again.

This was their fourth session, the fourth time R'meri had roused her with a gentle shake and helped her fasten Aeneth's harness, whispering and tiptoeing gingerly so as not to disturb Teri's irritable weyrmate. The lessons were woefully inadequate compared to the training undergone by Teri's classmates, most of whom had already graduated and been assigned to full wings, yet Teri wouldn't trade these brief moments in the sky for anything.

Teri's stomach twisted as Aeneth wobbled suddenly in a gust of wind. She tensed in panic, forgetting for a moment that she was strapped in and lurching forward onto the dragon's neck.

A hand caught her around the waist, steadying her from behind. "I've got you, don't worry," said R'meri.

She swallowed and exhaled tremulously, trying to slow the rapid tattoo of her heartbeat. "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

"You've got to keep hanging onto your riding straps. They'll help keep you steady."

Teri nodded in embarrassment and groped for the loose straps, berating herself mentally for the slip. How was she going to fly if she couldn't keep from panicking?

"Are you all right? Do you need to go back down?" asked R'meri in a gentler tone.

"No," Teri said vehemently, wrapping the straps around her hands in resolve. "I want to fly."

"Okay," said R'meri hesitantly. "I guess we might as well make the most of our time."

_Easy for him to say,_ grumbled Aeneth. _He's not the one carrying two people._

_Do you want to stop?_ Teri asked.

_No, I want him to fly his own dragon. He's heavy, and his brown's a lot bigger than I am._

Teri chuckled and rubbed Aeneth's neck. _That just shows how strong you are, dear one. _Thankfully, because Teri couldn't fly without R'meri to help her guide Aeneth. This was only her fourth time a-dragonback, though, and she hardly expected to come out of these lessons ready to fly Fall. It was enough for the moment to get Aeneth off the ground to stretch her wings. The green was perfectly capable of flying, and Teri didn't want to hold her back.

"Can you ask Aeneth to pull up and hover for a while?" asked R'meri, interrupting her thoughts.

"Of course." The girl quickly passed on the request. Aeneth obliged, grumbling briefly, her muscles rolling into a different pattern of motion. Their progress slowed, marked enough for Teri to feel the harness dig into her legs.

"I'm going to have Nemath relay a visual of where we are and we can work from there before Aeneth gets too tired of hovering," said R'meri.

Teri nodded and straightened up, readying herself. The image materialized in her mind as if she had opened her eyes after a six turn sleep. She caught her breath in awe. They were high up in the air, the stark walls of the Weyr bowl far below them, the rigid silhouette of the star stones to the side with the Red Star blinking deceptively through their gap, everything dusted in soft moonlight. Teri soaked up every detail of the image before it started to fade. It lasted longer than firelizard produced visualizations, but still dissipated far too soon. There was even a glimpse of her own head from behind, and Aeneth's neck stretched out in front of them, only a hint of green showing in the darkness.

_So, this is what the world looks like though R'meri's eyes,_ Teri mused.

_Looks about the same as how I see it, _said Aeneth, _except fuzzier. His vision is less than excellent._

_You're a dragon, _Teri said,_ no vision is excellent compared to yours_.

"Can you tell me which way is east?" asked R'meri.

Teri dredged up R'meri's image again, reorienting her directions based on imagined landmarks. "That way," she said, pointing to her right, in the direction where the Eyestone supposedly stood.

"Good," said R'meri. He continued to drill her for a few minutes longer, covering basic wind patterns and drift angles. Teri answered each question automatically. She knew all the theory by heart—putting it into practice was the problem.

"Let's take Aeneth for a loop, shall we?" asked R'meri.

Teri nodded resignedly, recognizing the customary ending of a lesson. They had only been in the air for what seemed like a few moments. _Ready to go, love?_ she asked.

_Finally, we're doing something,_ said Aeneth. _All this hovering is no fun._

Teri couldn't help but smile at the dragon's words, despite her disappointment. Nothing could keep Aeneth down. What were human worries worth when they were flying? Wind blasted in Teri's face as they shot forwards, forcing tears from her eyes. Her heart leapt, sharing her dragon's eagerness for flight, but her body stiffened with fear. The sensation of Aeneth's muscles working beneath her was still unfamiliar and alien. She was unsure of how her body should respond.

"You're stiffer than new wherhide. Relax," said R'meri, his breath tickling her ear.

Teri blushed, warmth spreading almost to her toes. The accuracy of his perception did nothing to soothe her nerves. She was suddenly very aware of his chest against her back, his arm around her middle. It would have been easier for her to jump _between_ than to relax at that moment.

Aeneth banked, wheeling in a long arc through the air. The drop was drastic enough for Teri to feel it in her stomach, but she didn't know their altitude until the dragon's shoulders rolled again and their descent stopped abruptly as Aeneth backwinged into a gentle landing.

Teri sighed, feeling blood return to her fingers as she released her grip on the riding straps. _That was a great flight._

_Thanks,_ said Aeneth smugly.

R'meri swung down from behind her and the cool night air hit Teri's back. She shivered, not wanting to leave her warm seat. She could still feel the energy emanating from Aeneth's skin.

"Do you need help coming down?" asked R'meri, his voice coming from the dragon's elbow.

"No," Teri said, her independent streak kicking in once again. She unhooked one leg from the harness and swung over Aeneth's side. The ground was higher up than she expected and she hit hard, stumbling.

"Whoa there," said R'meri, catching her against his chest. "We're going to have to work on that some more. Are you all right?"

Teri nodded and pushed herself quickly away, her face flaming. "I'm fine," she muttered.

R'meri cleared his throat. "That was a good session. Aeneth's a lot stronger. I've forgotten how fast dragons grow. You should check your harness for any stretching or worn spots. You wouldn't want anything to tear on you next time."

"There isn't going to be a next time," growled a furious voice from across the bowl. Teri jumped, her stomach clenching.

"Oh shards," said R'meri. "We're in for it."

Footsteps stalked towards them, audible even on the dirt. "What, in the name of Faranth, are you doing?"


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

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><p>R'meri flinched as J'den slammed his open hand on the table, worn leather straps crumpled beneath his fingers. Wax tablets teetered in precarious stacks and an aged hide scroll bounced to the floor. The Weyrleader's desk was strewn with various charts and tables; more were crammed into the shelves against the walls. A single glowbasket in the corner provided the only illumination. Despite the general clutter, J'den's presence made the room seem intimidating. He leaned over the desk, powerful shoulders hunched, hair mussed, unshaven. Any other man would look surly, but the Weyrleader was dangerous, blue eyes smoldering with anger.<p>

"What is this?" he hissed.

"I can explain," R'meri began, steeling himself. It took all of his control not to step backwards.

"I don't want you to explain, I want you to tell me what this is." J'den beckoned sharply at the harness lying on the table.

"It's a riding harness," said R'meri quietly.

"It's stolen, that's what it is," the Weyrleader snapped. "Good leather stolen from the Weyr and wasted on a harness that will never be used to fly."

"But we were flying fine just now," R'meri protested.

"Against my orders!"

The brownrider bit his tongue. _Stupid orders_, he couldn't help thinking, but a part of him didn't share the same convictions anymore. "It was a short flight, barely around the Weyr bowl."

"Don't you dare try to reason with me, boy," said J'den, clenching his fingers around the riding straps.

R'meri colored, half fearful and half indignant. Boy? He was as much a boy as J'den was a greenrider. "No sir. I made a mistake sir," he said through his teeth.

J'den shook his head disgustedly. "You made more than a mistake. Do you understand what you've done? You've crossed me and endangered my Weyr. Do you know what could have happened during that 'short flight' while there was no watchdragon at the post?"

"We would have known if anything happened."

J'den looked up angrily and R'meri cringed, the thread scars on his neck pulling taut as he turned his head. The smart thing would be to keep his mouth shut, but he couldn't possibly stay quiet under the other man's disparaging attacks.

"Dragonmen never leave their posts. You left the Weyr unguarded on your shift to go play dragonriders with a blind girl who will never be able to fly." J'den jabbed his finger at the table with each statement.

Raising his head, R'meri met the Weyrleader's eyes, trying not to be cowed by their intense gaze. "Why are you so set against letting Teri fly? She impressed, it's her duty as a dragonrider."

"That girl is blind. Her impression was a fluke. It never would have happened if N'hal hadn't gone against orders in the first place."

"You can't change what happened," R'meri said quickly, before he lost his nerve. Only loyalty to Teri kept him from shutting up and preserving his own skin. "Her dragon is perfectly capable, and she is willing to work harder than anyone else to get better."

"The problem's not with her dragon," J'den scoffed, "it's with her. You saw her, she can't even dismount without falling over. How can you believe that she'll be able to fly? Does she know where she is? Does she know how high she is? Does she know where other riders are?" he demanded. "These are just the basics for a rider to function, much less fly in a formation or fight Thread. I won't even go into the issue of going _between_. She can't fly. She has to stay grounded, for everyone's safety."

Silent, R'meri wished he didn't agree with J'den's words. He wished he could conjure up a brilliant defense, but the other man was right. The more he worked with Teri, the more R'meri came to realize that she would never be able to fly on her own. Aeneth flew beautifully, considering the handicap of an extra passenger and her delayed training, but she was certainly not good enough to direct herself independently. Teri couldn't just sit there for the ride. It was a shame, all of the green dragon's skill for nothing. R'meri sighed. Teri's face had been so radiant whenever Aeneth's wings swept them from the ground. He knew he wanted to defend her, but it just wasn't realistic. She was completely disoriented in the air.

J'den combed his fingers through his unruly hair. "You're insubordinate and irresponsible, not to mention reckless. You're being suspended from your wing, everything from drills to Threadfall. Tomorrow you will report to the Weyrlingmaster and be assigned duties in the lower caverns. Da'el has already been given your posts, starting with tonight."

R'meri jerked his head up in horror, his mouth working for words. The Weyrlingmaster? The lower caverns?

J'den leaned forwards, casting his eyes into shadow. "If your insubordination continues, I will have no choice but to remove you from active duty indefinitely."

The brownrider felt like he had been punched in the stomach. "Yes sir," he choked out.

The Weyrleader nodded and began to rearrange the shifted hides and slates back into their respective piles. "You're dismissed," he said curtly.

R'meri bowed stiffly and retreated into the hall. It was dark and quiet outside, the only light leaking from the office. He closed the door behind him, his hands shaking from the effort to keep himself from slamming it shut. The cool dark enveloped him and he sighed, resting his forehead against the ancient wood. Demoted to a weyrling! He kicked the wall angrily and stubbornly refused to regret it even as pain shot up his leg. No, lower than a weyrling. Weyrlings didn't have to work in the lower caverns. R'meri lifted an arm to pound his fist against the wall but with a sigh, let it fall back to his side, his fury fizzling down into dull frustration. There was nothing he could do now, and beating inanimate objects only served to inflame his anger. R'meri turned slowly and limped towards his weyr. There were at least a few hours left to sleep before he had to accept his humiliation in the morning.

* * *

><p>Wren's hungry creels woke Teri far earlier than she would have liked. She groaned and buried her face into her pillow, her body voicing its complaints of too much exertion the previous evening and not enough sleep. "Not now, Wren," she moaned.<p>

"Will you just feed him?" asked her weyrmate's voice from the other side of the room. "It's midmorning already."

Midmorning? "Still too early," muttered Teri.

"What, had a late night wandering the Weyr with your dragon?" the other woman asked.

"No, I'm just tired," Teri muttered in reply, trying to block out the voracious feeling growing in her stomach. She didn't feel like dealing with Sarehi this early, the greenrider with whom she shared a living space. Sarehi had impressed at the same hatching as Teri and always resented having to share her weyr. She had endless contempt for the blind girl, lording her position over Teri whenever she went to report to her wing. Teri, on the other hand, worked in the infirmary with the healers, having felt at home there ever since her convalescence. She had given up trying to be a friend to Sarehi, or seeking the other woman's approval.

_We slept late,_ observed Aeneth. Her voice was tinged with sleepiness.

_G'rel didn't really help us with that lecture of his. I swear he talked for at least an hour_. She wondered if R'meri had suffered the same fate. Hopefully his punishment wasn't too severe. G'rel had just reiterated what she felt every day in all of Sarehi's taunts. Wren prodded her shoulder with his head urgently, demanding her attention. Teri rolled upright with a sigh and fumbled for the edge of her couch, past the tangled furs. "Fine, I'll feed you," she murmured, pushing the firelizard away.

"I heard you and Aeneth leave in the middle of the night. Where did you go?" Sarehi asked suspiciously.

"Nowhere." Teri lowered herself to the floor, her toes curling on contact with the cold stone, and reached for the clothes she had laid out.

"Don't think that because you're blind means you're above the rules of the Weyr," began Sarehi.

"I don't," Teri said, pulling on her trousers. "Don't you have somewhere to be?" she asked.

"No, it's a rest day, did you forget? Or do you not have rest days, because you don't fight Thread?"

Teri ignored the caustic remark and shrugged into a shirt. Wren's talons pinched her skin lightly as he scrambled up her arm to occupy his usual perch on her shoulder.

"You weren't flying, were you?" asked Sarehi, slightly put out that her barbs weren't eliciting a response.

"Now why would I do that?" muttered Teri. "I'm only a dragonrider. That's just absurd." She snorted softly and shoved her feet into boots. She and R'meri would have to wait a while before she could start flying again, especially to make another riding harness. The night lessons were definitely out, but they could find a way. She pushed herself up and made her way slowly to the open back of the weyr where the dragons slept. Calith was still on her couch, her warm bulk familiar yet alien at the same time. Aeneth's comforting smell, unmistakably draconic, but somehow completely part of her, guided Teri like the pull of an invisible rope. Her outstretched fingers came in contact with the soft hide of the dragon's nose, sending a thrill up Teri's arm. She smiled and embraced Aeneth's muzzle with a sigh. Not too long ago, Teri could wrap her arms around the dragon's whole body, but now she could barely reach around her neck. She pressed her nose against Aeneth's hide and inhaled deeply.

_You smell,_ she murmured teasingly.

Aeneth nudged Teri gently and pulled the girl closer. _So do you. Like sleep._

_Did you grow any more during the night, my beauty? _Teri asked dreamily, reveling in the warmth of dragon hide against her cheek, the iron strength of muscles rippling beneath.

_No. I think I'm just catching up to the rest of me_, said Aeneth.

_Really? You feel bigger._ Teri walked her fingers up the dragon's muzzle, standing on her tip toes to reach the spot above the eye where Aeneth loved to be scratched.

_My shoulders itch_, admitted the green, dropping her head to facilitate easier scratching. _Can you give me a bath today?_

_Of course_, Teri replied. _We'll do it at midday. Make sure to tell me exactly where you need to be itched._

_I will. Just don't let Wren tickle my wings._

_I won't,_ promised Teri with a smile. _That reminds me, I have to go feed Wren. And myself,_ she added as her stomach gurgled in complaint. _And I should find R'meri too, to make sure he's okay._

_Okay. I'll tell you where to find me when you're done._

Teri nodded and planted a kiss on Aeneth's nose before pulling away. _I love you._

_I love you too,_ replied Aeneth.

Teri found her way back to her couch and all her belongings, picking up her staff from where it was leaning against the wall. From the absence of her stinging jibes, Sarehi must have left during their silent exchange. Grateful, Teri left the weyr, one hand trailing against the wall, the other sweeping her staff before her as she walked forwards. She had long memorized the route from her weyr to the healers' bay, and following it was as automatic as breathing. She didn't have trouble with other traffic in the halls, taking the back ways instead of the main thoroughfares. And when she did happen across other people, they mostly avoided her or pretended she didn't exist, footsteps speeding up slightly until they passed, dialogue dying down until she was a fair distance away. Wren's usual presence on her shoulder protected her from any malicious weyrbrats, and other riders and weyrfolk had more important things to worry about than harassing her.

Life in the Weyr was certainly better than it had been at Keroon, but it was far from perfect. Even though she could feel tangible resentment from the other weyrfolk, she wasn't a stranger to being ostracized. Teri had an occupation and friends at the Weyr, and Aeneth. Aeneth was everything, a true soulmate filling every particle of Teri's being. Except the hole left behind after Aren's death. It was an experience that she and her dragon couldn't share. She still woke screaming from nightmares every once in a while.

Sunlight hit Teri's face as she entered the open Weyr bowl, the narrow hallway opening up into wide space. She shivered involuntarily at the warmth and turned a corner into healers' bay, hoping Faire had food. Cool air and the comforting smells of herbs and linen greeted her. She sighed, the familiar scents like a balm to her weariness.

"Hello Teri," said Faire's voice. "N'hal, Teri's here!" she shouted in the other direction.

"N'hal's back?" Teri asked with mixed emotions, propping her staff against the wall in the corner as security that she couldn't flee. She wanted to be glad that he was back, but she didn't know how happy he would be to see her._ Don't be silly_,she told herself._ He's your friend, he made sure you were at the hatching, he saved your life._ But did she ruin his? The greenrider had been sent to a neighboring hold to help with a small epidemic of pox earlier in the turn. Teri suspected it was because of her, J'den settling his grudge over the fact that N'hal made it possible for her to impress. She could only hope that he didn't harbor any bitterness against her.

"Yes, he arrived last night. He's just in the back. You look tired. Is everything all right?"

Teri nodded. "Yeah, I just got up, so I'm still trying to get myself together."

"Here, come have some _klah_. It's a little cold, but there's some bread and meat rolls to wake you up." Wood scraped against stone as Faire pushed a stool towards her.

"Thanks," Teri said, pulling the stool close to the table and sitting down. "I was actually just looking for something to feed Wren." A plate was placed in her hands and Teri heard the sound of liquid pouring into a cup, the sharp scent of _klah_ filling the air.

"Meat rolls are on the left," said Faire.

Teri secured a soft slab and proffered it to Wren perched on her shoulder. The firelizard snagged it and began to devour it furiously, meat hitting her ear every so often with his efforts. "If you're going to eat up there, don't get it all over me," scolded Teri, wiping her ear. She sipped the lukewarm liquid and bit into a thick end of bread as Wren hopped down onto the table.

Footsteps entered from the other room and stopped. Teri swallowed hard and raised her head nervously.

"Hello, N'hal, nice of you to join us," said Faire.

"Hello N'hal," Teri said. "It's good to have you back."

"Oh, Teri," said the greenrider's voice. "It's good to see you. You've changed."

"I guess I have," Teri replied, unsure how to read his reaction.

"How's… Aeneth?"

"She's well, grown a lot." Teri smiled weakly as the silence stretched. Then hurried footsteps outside drew Teri's attention to the entrance and she turned on her stool, grateful for the distraction.

"N'hal!" exclaimed R'meri's voice. "You're back!"

"Hello R'meri," said N'hal with a slightly brighter tone.

"Sorry, I wish I could talk, but I have to get back to Yolanda. Faire, do you have any empty numbweed pots?" asked R'meri.

"Uh, yes, I'll go get them," replied Faire, unsure. She got up and went into the other room.

"You're running errands for the headwoman?" Teri asked in confusion. "Isn't it a rest day?"

Faire's footsteps returned with the sound of clattering pottery.

"Thanks Faire," said R'meri. "I can't talk now, I have to go."

"Wait!" Teri hopped off her stool and reached for her staff to follow. "R'meri, I need to talk to you."

R'meri sighed and Teri's free hand caught his sleeve. "Can it wait?" he asked, not shortening his strides to accommodate her smaller legs.

Teri was forced to half jog to keep up, a handful of sleeve her only security. "Slow down, will you?"

"What do you want?" R'meri said. "I'm busy right now."

"I wanted to know what J'den said to you. Are you all right?"

"I don't want to talk about it," said the brownrider curtly.

"Why are you being like this? What's wrong?" R'meri had never treated her so coldly before.

R'meri stopped suddenly and pulled his arm away. "What do you think? Why do you think I'm fetching empty numbweed pots for Yolanda?"

Teri frowned in confusion. "If it's only for one day-"

"No, you don't understand, Teri. I've been suspended from my wing for however long J'den decides is fit."

"Just because you were helping me?"

R'meri paused to inhale slowly. "I can't do this anymore," he muttered. "I'm sorry Teri, but I don't want to be Yolanda's drudge indefinitely."

"What do you mean?"

The brownrider sighed. "I have to go. If J'den sees me talking to you, he'll probably increase my suspension. I'll see you later."

Bewildered, Teri dropped her hand to her side as the sound of R'meri's footsteps receded and dissolved into the general noise of the Weyr. J'den was punishing him for being her friend? Teri turned slowly in her spot and swallowed hard. She didn't feel hungry anymore, despite having eaten only a mouthful of bread and _klah_. She already ruined N'hal's life, had she ruined R'meri's too?


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

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><p>"You're blind."<p>

"Yes," Teri said automatically as she wrapped the linen bandage carefully around the rider's arm. They always said the same thing—all the patients she worked with. As if she didn't know.

"You know what you're doing, right?" he asked nervously. His tenor voice was marked by a slight drawl she hadn't heard before in the Weyr.

"No. The healers always let random people dress their patients' wounds," she said dryly.

The rider's arm tensed for a moment and twitched, as if he wanted to jerk away. Then he relaxed with a low chuckle. "Right. Forgive me, I shouldn't have doubted you."

Teri shrugged. "Happens all the time."

"So, you're the blind girl who impressed."

"That's me," Teri said. Original fellow, this—what was his name again?—I'an was. "There aren't too many other blind girls in the Weyr."

"You never know. The Weyr is more diverse than you would think. Why aren't you wearing your knots?"

Teri's hands slowed for a moment. No one remarked on her lack of the cords that designated craft and rank, or in a dragonrider's case, Weyr and dragon color. "I don't have any," she said curtly.

"Oh. You're not flying with a wing, are you?"

"No." Not yet. Her hands sped up again, her face growing warmer. She felt around the dressing to check if it was sound, ripped away the excess bandage, and tied it off. "There you go."

"Thank you," I'an said slowly. "How did you learn to dress wounds?"

"I have a lot of time to practice."

"You did a good job."

Teri began rolling up the extra linen, acknowledging the comment with a distracted nod. "Make sure you don't do too much and strain your arm. Come back tomorrow to get it checked again." On another day, the same praise would have buoyed her spirits, but lately a certain brownrider was weighing on her mind.

Teri dropped the bandages and rested her chin on her hands with a sigh. She missed R'meri, more than she wanted to admit. He was her closest friend in the Weyr. She hadn't spoken to him at all in several days. She had even gone to his weyr earlier that day, but he hadn't answered when she knocked.

He was avoiding her, Teri guessed. It was easy to disappear in the Weyr, especially to keep away from someone. The thought that she had caused his extended punishment still made her uncomfortable, but she was tired of feeling guilty for something that wasn't her fault. J'den's prejudice was to blame. It wasn't enough for the Weyrleader to keep Teri from everything related to dragonriders. He had to take it out on her friends too. Maybe it was better for R'meri not to see her. Teri let out a frustrated sigh, turning her thoughts to Aeneth.

_Love, can you ask Nemath where R'meri is for me?_ she asked.

_Why so curious?_ asked Aeneth.

_I was just wondering._ She knew it was silly, but it was comforting to know what he was doing.

_Nemath says he's repairing tables from the dining cavern._

_Okay,_ Teri said.

_Do you want to guess where I am?_ asked Aeneth playfully.

Unable to suppress a chuckle, Teri smiled. They had developed this guessing game a short while ago, involving Aeneth sending visualizations to Teri from random places in the Weyr. It provided a distraction from the monotony that inevitably dogged them. And Teri got to "see" parts of the Weyr she never knew existed. Aeneth's eyes were like an extension of Teri's. _Okay,_ she replied. _Where are you?_

Colors and shapes materialized out of the darkness around Teri and she blinked involuntarily. An expanse of murky brownish blue stretched all around her, receding into darkness. Transparent streaks of lighter colors, almost gold, shot through the gloom. There was no horizon and no ground, as if she were suspended in the middle of the air. Or water.

_Are you in the lake?_ Teri asked, wonderstruck.

_You guessed it!_ said Aeneth. _I was in the lake. Now I'm not anymore._

She let the image go and it faded quickly, ephemeral trails of color swirling tantalizingly as they sank into darkness. Teri tried to capture each vivid hue and tint but it was like holding smoke in her hands. As beautiful and breathtaking as each visualization was, it was even more painful to return to blindness again. Teri hadn't felt so limited by her disability for a while. It was an uncomfortable feeling.

_What were you doing?_ Teri asked, fighting off disappointment and envy. _You don't need another bath already._

_I wanted to swim,_ replied Aeneth. _I'm bored. Besides, there aren't any other dragons here. Most of the wings are fighting Thread over Feilon. Why not swim while the lake's empty?_

Pursing her lips in thought, Teri exhaled slowly. She desperately wished she could go flying with Aeneth, but J'den had taken her second-hand gear and probably destroyed it. A dragon shouldn't be bored. Teri could live with her own feelings of inadequacy and restlessness, but she couldn't allow Aeneth to be the same on her account.

_Nemath's here,_ Teri said. _You could talk with him._

_No_. If Aeneth were a human, she would have wrinkled her nose as she spoke. _I don't care for his company._

_I didn't know that,_ Teri said. _Why didn't you tell me?_

_I didn't think I needed to. _said Aeneth, projecting another image, this time of blinding sunlight reflected off the lake's surface. The broad expanse of water rippled turbulently, the reflection of the sky jagged and torn like a broken pot badly pieced back together._ What are you doing now?_

_I'm in the healers' bay,_ Teri replied gloomily. Working in the infirmary had been enjoyable when she had had flying lessons to look forwards too, and lived on the thrill of going against J'den's authority. Now it just felt like she was stuck. _Meet me outside in a little while?_ she asked.

_Okay. Thread's going to move over the Weyr today,_ said Aeneth.

_It is, isn't it?_ Teri recognized a note of muted frustration in the dragon's voice. Her shoulders drooped. She wondered what it was like for Aeneth to watch the other dragons of the Weyr fighting Thread while she remained grounded.

_You want to fight, don't you?_ Teri murmured. _I do too._

_We will,_ said Aeneth.

_Yes, someday,_ Teri agreed. Hopefully. If human politics didn't get in the way.

Teri sighed and turned a corner into a broader passageway. She wished she too could take a plunge in the lake and get away from everything, wished her troublesome thoughts would melt and disappear like the colors from a borrowed memory.

* * *

><p>N'hal leaned against a wall of the entranceway into the healers' bay, looking out at the sky pensively. Rinth was hunkered down outside of the entrance, her eyes filmy through one pair of lids, her thoughts distant and random. Dragon daydreaming. N'hal smiled and shook his head. He didn't want to interrupt her. He remembered when he was stuck with the task of watching the herdbeasts at pasture as a little boy, how he would lie in the grass and find the shapes of animals in the clouds. He loved to watch as each formation dissolved and reshaped itself into something else. Each clump of white held so much promise, so many fantastical creatures waiting to be birthed. Today, N'hal couldn't recognize anything in the wisps of cloud littering the arc of the sky. He sighed and dropped his gaze to survey the inside of the Weyr.<p>

Not many other dragonriders were about. Those who weren't fighting already were resting in their personal weyrs or some other secluded spot. One of the junior queens was brooding over her clutch on the Hatching Ground. N'hal watched as a candidate class peered at the eggs from a safe distance, elbowing each other and standing on tiptoe to get a better look. He smiled ruefully and shifted his weight.

Teri was heading in his direction across the Bowl, at Aeneth's elbow. The green dragon shuffled awkwardly to keep pace beside her rider, the girl's hand tiny on Aeneth's foreleg. N'hal had only ever seen Aeneth walking on the ground, and each time it felt wrong. He imagined what a relief it would be if she could just leap into the sky and hurl out her wings, freed from constricting gravity.

Teri and Aeneth. The pair that had challenged all of N'hal's predisposed beliefs and perspectives. He couldn't decide whether he was fiercely proud to have a part in their lives, disheartened that they couldn't do everything they should, or resentful that they caused him so much trouble. No, not resentful. They had no control over what had happened. He wondered what the future had in store for them.

The slow wailing of the Thread klaxon started up, rising in pitch as it continued. Rinth's head rose and her eyelids slid upwards to reveal faceted eyes whirling a deep shade of orange. The candidates across the Bowl jumped in surprise and fear, clamoring to get beneath shelter. The sky was growing dull and grey with the imminent Threadfall. N'hal stayed where he was as the Bowl emptied, his heart racing from adrenaline.

_I miss Thread,_ he murmured with a twinge of regret.

_I do too,_ said Rinth, her body tense despite its languid position. It seemed odd to say, but they hadn't fought Thread adragonback in the better part of a turn and he was eager to face down the silvery spores again.

The sky suddenly filled with ranks of dragons, the browns and bronzes ready to meet the brunt of the leading edge while blues and greens darted in between, the queen's wing below to sweep away any filaments that escaped the upper defense. They barely had a few moments to prepare before a silver line of Thread lanced across the sky and the orderly lines broke apart into formations to meet it.

"Do you miss it?"

N'hal looked down in surprise to see Teri at his elbow, her upturned face guarded. He had been so riveted on Threadfall that he hadn't even noticed her arrival.

"Yes, I do," he replied. With a start he realized that he hadn't properly spoken with Teri since his arrival. "But there are other times for me and Rinth," he added.

"Oh." Teri swallowed and turned her staff in her hands nervously. "Are you, angry that you can't fly?"

"Yes, I suppose," said N'hal, shrugging his shoulders.

"Because," she said, her face tight and flushed, her voice quavering, "because of me?"

N'hal was taken aback at her candor. Had she misconstrued his cool behavior for anger, when it was really fatigue and the difficulty readjusting to the Weyr? But was it really because of that? He realized that a part of him had resented her, and he must have shown it. "No," said N'hal firmly. "Of course not. You had no fault in this at all."

Teri relaxed visibly and a timid smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Okay. I'm just sorry that everything had to happen the way it did."

N'hal squeezed Teri's shoulder gently. "Don't worry about it. We can't change the past."

"Thanks N'hal. I just hope R'meri feels the same," she added softly.

"I'm sure he will," said N'hal, smiling. "Aeneth has grown so much I can hardly believe it. She's nearly as big as Rinth!"

_No she is not,_ said Rinth indignantly, turning her head to survey her rider severely. _I am much bigger than she is._

_Hush,_ N'hal replied. _I'm just trying to make conversation._

_You don't have to tell falsehoods._

N'hal shook his head and turned his attention to Teri. "She must be coming up on her first mating flight, isn't she?"

"She is?" Teri's eyes widened until white showed all around her irises.

"Just about. But don't worry about it," he added quickly as Teri's distress grew. "Every green and queen dragon goes through it and ends up fine. You've had someone explain the sequence of events to you, right?"

Teri nodded. "But what if Aeneth doesn't fly properly? I mean, she hasn't had the same training as any of the other greens."

"Dragons don't need humans to teach them how to fly," N'hal assured her. "They're the ones with the wings anyways. Aeneth will know what to do."

"Okay," Teri said dubiously. She frowned, biting her lip, and N'hal kicked himself mentally for making her worry unnecessarily.

"Tell me about how things have been while I've been gone," said N'hal, changing the subject. "How do you like taking care of Aeneth now that she's so much bigger?"

Teri smiled, her worries forgotten and launched into an animated narrative of the care of her green dragon. N'hal leaned back against the wall and listened intently, thankful for a lighthearted distraction. He wished he could stay in the moment, forget his preoccupations and the fact that Thread was falling around them and just exchange casual banter with a friend.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

* * *

><p>The sandsoap was gritty between Teri's fingers as she scrubbed Aeneth's hide, foaming into a thick lather. She wiggled her toes against the rocky bottom of the lake. Water lapped at her knees, splashing onto her rolled up trousers.<p>

_Stop fidgeting,_ Teri chided. _You're getting me all wet._

_Then you don't have to scrub me,_ grumbled Aeneth. _It tickles._

_You're the one who was complaining about itching,_ Teri said reproachfully, wiping perspiration from her forehead with the back of her wrist. _This is your second bath this week._

_I'm growing, aren't I? And it's my back that's itching, not my side,_ Aeneth retorted mutinously.

Teri frowned and put her fists on her hips severely. _You didn't tell me that, so you can't blame me._

Aeneth was silent in reply, sullenly pouting.

_Get rinsed then,_ Teri said with an exasperated sigh,_ and I'll get more soap. Will you show me where it is?_

The shore flickered into being around Teri for a few moments before it disappeared, giving her barely enough time to locate the pot of sandsoap sitting on a ledge behind her. She scoffed at the poor quality of the image, but Aeneth had already plunged deeper into the water. A wave of water thoroughly soaked Teri's trouser legs and she shook her head. Aeneth was in one of her fussy moods again. N'hal had said that it was a sign of her imminent flight, but Teri was tired of thinking about it. On top of the nerves and worries that surrounded the first flight, Jana had been pestering her all week in the infirmary, running through all the prospective dragons and their riders, putting a special emphasis on her favorites and ones she thought would be a good match. Teri shuddered involuntarily. She almost wished Aeneth would rise just so she wouldn't have to hear Jana yammering anymore, about whether S'daron or H'kel was better looking, and how F'ben had the most beautiful eyes. Personally, Teri couldn't care less how beautiful a rider's eyes were.

_Only because you've already set your hopes on R'meri,_ said a small voice inside her, but she muffled it, blushing. The brownrider still hadn't spoken to her, and her worries about him were only growing.

Teri rinsed her soapy hands in the water and dried them on her tunic, slogging towards the shore. The sooner she finished with Aeneth's bath, the sooner she could get back to working on her new riding harness. She had managed to convince Faire to obtain harness leather for her without disclosing her goals. It felt good to have a project instead of just loafing around waiting for R'meri to come around.

The summer sun's warmth on the top of her head and neck bordered on discomfort, but she didn't mind. It was a good day to enjoy the lake. A couple other dragons and riders had come out to bask in the warm weather. She caught snippets of conversation around her, alternating with the sound of splashing water. She recognized C'rin's loud, honking laugh and G'red's sarcastic reply, both who had impressed at the same hatching as she. Another voice joined the conversation and their words became unintelligible.

A misplaced step landed Teri's foot on a sharp rock and she yelped, windmilling her arms as she lost her balance.

"Watch out!" A pair of hands caught her and pulled her upright. "Close shave, there," said a voice with a familiar drawl.

"Yes, it was," Teri said breathlessly, regaining her footing. "Thank you, uh…"

"I'an," supplied the stranger. "You dressed my arm a few days ago."

"Oh, right, I remember now. Thank you, I'an."

"Of course," I'an said. The rider's hands return to her back and elbow for support as she began to feel her way gingerly back to dry land. Irritation flared up at his touch—she was perfectly capable of walking by herself—but she resisted the urge to shrug him off. He was probably just being nice.

"How's your shoulder?" she asked.

"Fine," I'an replied. "It barely feels injured at all."

"Make sure you don't strain it," Teri said warningly. She had had to retreat many injuries that had ripped sutures or gotten infected. "I know how dragonriders are. You think you're invincible and a little pain is nothing, but it could get a lot worse instead of getting better."

"Yes ma'am," I'an said. "I won't move a muscle until you say I'm healed."

Teri smiled and knelt slowly. "Good." she asked, feeling around for the sandsoap.

"Is this what you're looking for?" I'an pressed the clay pot into her outstretched hands.

Her smile stiffened and she bit the inside of her cheek. "Thanks," she said grudgingly.

"You're welcome," I'an said.

_Who is this?_ asked Aeneth. The dragon snorted above Teri, as water dripped on her head. A vision of the shore appeared in Teri's mind, a fair-haired man looking up at her. He was built athletically like a runner, long-limbed and lean. Grey eyes squinted in the bright sunlight on either side of a slightly crooked nose that looked as if it had been broken and badly set.

_This is I'an,_ Teri replied. _I met him in the infirmary_.

_He's not going to stay, is he?_ said Aeneth in a long-suffering tone.

_I hope not._ _He's a little too helpful for my taste, _Teri muttered, scooping a handful of sandsoap from the pot. Maybe if she ignored him, he would leave. _Now tell me where you need to be scrubbed, Aeneth._

_I'm itchy_, the green complained.

_I know you are, just tell me where,_ Teri said, gritting her teeth.

_I'm itchy everywhere._

_Fine._ Teri reached forward and began to scrub indiscriminately.

"Can I help you with that?" I'an asked.

"No. I'll be fine, thank you," Teri said curtly.

"Are you sure? It would be no problem for me."

"Thanks, but I'll be fine."

_I'm hungry._ Aeneth shifted away and Teri slipped, water splashing up to her elbows.

"Aeneth!" Her face burning, Teri struggled upright. _What is wrong with you!_ The green dragon's mind was a mess of turbulent emotions and the emergence of something so incredibly raw and feral that Teri recoiled in shock. It was unlike anything she had ever experienced.

_Hungry. Need to fly._

"Watch out!" I'an pulled Teri swiftly aside. Wind whooshed over her head and water rained down on her, a great sucking noise filling the air.

"What's happening?" Teri cried, gripping the rider's shirt to keep her balance despite the sandsoap smeared all over her hands. She reached out to Aeneth but couldn't find any place to connect to that wasn't blazing with hormonal surges. Panic filled her at the sudden disconnect from her dragon, plunging her into a darkness that was more than being blind.

"She's rising! We have to follow her, come on!" I'an towed her forwards into the lake, sloshing in until the water was hip-deep.

Aeneth rising? Teri's heart leapt into her mouth. No, it couldn't be happening now. She wasn't ready. She tried to protest and pull away, but she was being pushed onto a warm bulk that was unmistakably a dragon.

"Hanoth can take us to the herd grounds," I'an said, holding her around the waist. "You have to stay connected, Teri," he murmured into her ear. "Don't let her go."

The physical contact with a dragon, although not Aeneth, helped Teri to focus her scrambled thoughts. Fear flashed across her mind as she realized that I'an intended to fly double with no harness, but the intensity of Aeneth's instincts demanded all of Teri's attention. She barely even noticed the familiar drop in her stomach as Hanoth surged upwards in pursuit. Red, violent hunger poured through Teri's mental link. She raised her hands automatically in defense and concentrated all of her will into subduing the torrent.

_Aeneth! Aeneth, talk to me!_ she cried, in hopes that the psyche of the dragon she knew better than her own self would emerge.

One coherent thought filtered through the animal hunger: _Blood._

Hanoth touched down gracefully after the short sprint. Without waiting for I'an's aid, Teri slid off and fell to her hands and knees, despite his indistinct cry of protest. Dirt stuck to her wet fingers as she pushed herself up, drawn inexplicably forwards.

"She's blooding a wherry," I'an said beside her, a firm grip on her elbow steadying her and keeping her stationary. "She'll be flying soon. I've never seen a green glow that brightly."

So strong were Aeneth's sensations that Teri could almost taste the salt of the wherry's blood; feel its flesh tearing beneath her teeth, her claws.

"You can't let her go _between_ when she flies," I'an said, among a cacophony of the herdbeasts screaming in fear and the raised voices of other riders around her. His hands on her shoulders turned her around to face him. "Do you hear me?" he asked.

Teri was beyond hearing. A wave of dragon lust overwhelmed her despite her efforts to hold it back, invading all of her senses. The meaty scent of dead wherry filled her nostrils, mingling with the blood that spattered her muzzle. Its neck was limp and dry between her jaws, sucked bloodless. Her eyes opened at the lack of the sweet, full liquid.

Sight! Not still images projected one at a time, but full, moving vision restored to her eyes. The sensation almost jerked the girl to consciousness. Sunlight flooded her eyes, assailing her with colors, shapes, and textures. Smears of dark blood on her claws looked brown against the vivid green of her hide, luminous as if lit from within. Every detail stood out, from the downy feathers of the wherry to the small tufts of grass growing obstinately in the hard ground. Brown dirt and shrubs stretched around her to where the humans stood watching, and the dragons. She arched her neck and hissed, furious at the sight of other dragons who undoubtedly sought to pin her to the ground and steal her prey. The clear sky arched high overhead, calling her to escape, to fly. With a lash of her tail, she spread her wings and leapt upwards.

This was not the toiling, restrained flight of practice sessions, but a wild release of all her pent-up energy. The unending depths of the sky dazzled her eyes, a blue so vivid it hurt to look at it for too long. Instead, she turned her head over her shoulder to survey the earth dropping swiftly away, the field of herdbeasts reduced to a small patch of brown beside the glittering gem of the lake. The dragons were following her, the fools! pumping their wings ineffectually, trying desperately to make up the lost distance. There were four pursuers, a bronze, two browns and a blue. She crowed fiercely in defiance. They would never catch her, with her wings unleashed in flight for the first time. The brown of the earth and blue of the sky swirled and blurred as she spiraled. The entire expanse of the heavens was hers and hers alone to conquer.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of the dragons gaining on her and she pulled out of her dive in disgust. They had no right to the sky, it was her domain. Why did they have to follow her? She knew a place she could go where they couldn't follow. Although she had never been there, the cold black of _between_ was a part of her very being.

_No. Not _between_._ The girl stirred just enough to create a lucid thought.

But it was so easy. It was waiting, calling at that very moment.

_No. Not _between_._

She lashed her tail in frustration and screamed again. Fine, not _between_. She would just have to outfly them. She shot forwards with all the agility of a green dragon, her eyes taking in everything. The big buffoons with their bulky wings would never catch up.

Caught in the exultation of flight, she forgot to look above her. As she turned to mock the dragons trailing behind, brown wings dropped around her, sheathed claws finding unshakeable holds. She cried out in surprise and fury, but her wings were fouled and she couldn't escape. A brown neck twined around hers, assuring her capture.

Teri felt like she had been slammed into a wall as she returned to consciousness. The power and freedom that she had just felt was ripped away and she was thrown back into the colorless dark, small and alone. She cried out and clawed at the blackness, despair flooding her gut.

"No! Not again!" she cried. A voice was saying something indistinct as her hands met skin in her indiscriminate flailing, but she didn't pay any attention. She couldn't be blind again! She had to see, had to escape. Hands caught her wrists and held her still with surprising strength. She was about to protest again when a strange mouth pressed against hers, muffling her cry. Shock froze her resistance for a moment and the hands pulled her closer, moving upwards to cradle her head and neck.

Teri had one last coherent thought before the last vestiges of her opposition faded away, but it was too fleeting to remember past the feeling of melting into passionate embrace.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

* * *

><p>He woke in an instant, as he always did, his mind already alert and taking stock of his surroundings: cold grey stone walls arching over him, like the inside of a primeval eggshell; soft rushes yielding beneath his weight, so different from bunking on the forest floor. He lay on his side, the warm curve of her body nestled against his. She was turned away from him, but he could still hear her soft breaths, occasionally accompanied by a faint snore. He smiled, gingerly extricating his arm from beneath her head and propped himself up on one elbow. She sighed as her headrest was removed and turned over. She was adorable asleep, even though her mouth was open and she had drooled a little. Chuckling, he gently tipped her mouth closed. Her eyes fluttered open at his touch, clear brown irises staring groggily into space.<p>

"Good morning," he murmured. "Sleep well?"

* * *

><p>Teri sat upright with a jolt, clutching the sheet to her chest, the lethargy of sleep sloughed away. The drawling voice seemed vaguely familiar, but it was not who she expected. "Who are you?"<p>

"What's wrong, Teri? It's me, I'an." The mattress sunk beneath her as he shifted. "Are you all right?"

"I'an?" Not R'meri?Teri's sleep-muddled thoughts struggled to catch up. She remembered him, from the infirmary and at the lake, but her mind couldn't connect the dots. She also vaguely recalled Jana mentioning him in her exhaustive list of prospective riders—something about rumors and an unfortunate reputation.

"Don't you remember what happened?"

Teri flushed, nodding. She had no problems remembering the mating flight and the subsequent events, but she couldn't recall who exactly she had shared them with. Why was I'an here? Hadn't Nemath flown Aeneth? Who else did those brown wings belong to?

"Is—is Hanoth a brown dragon?" she asked nervously.

I'an let out a surprised laugh. "Yes, he is."

Teri's stomach plummeted to a region somewhere around her knees. So it had been Hanoth and I'an the entire time. Her wild half-hope that a magical switch of brownriders had occurred while she was sleeping crumbled.

She started in surprise as fingers brushed against her forehead, tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear.

"Are you all right?" I'an repeated gently.

She nodded shakily. What had happened to Nemath and R'meri?

"Good, you had me worried for a moment there." I'an's hands cupped her face and moved down to her arms, drawing her into an embrace. She stiffened in discomfort and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping he couldn't hear her heart hammering.

"I don't know about you, but I'm starving. We missed breakfast," I'an said, after what seemed to Teri an agonizingly long moment. She breathed a sigh of relief as his arms dropped away, the sinking and rising of the mattress signaling that he had slid out of bed. The sound of bare feet on stone receded into what Teri assumed was a different room.

_Shells,_ she thought, tightening her grip on the sheets, _I'm not even in my weyr, am I?_ She instinctively pulled her knees up to her chest, painfully aware of her nakedness.

"Hanoth and Aeneth are still asleep out here," I'an said, his footsteps coming back into the room. "Are you going to come out of bed?"

"Y—yes, but—" Teri replied, her voice squeaking. She cleared her throat, her face growing hotter than the sands on the Hatching Ground. "I—I don't know where my clothes are."

I'an laughed again, triggering in Teri a flash of irritation. She folded her arms over her chest crossly. The situation was hardly amusing.

"Right, let me help you out there." I'an's feet came closer, stopping randomly on their way, and a tangle of clothes was piled into Teri's arms. "I'll get dressed in the other room," he said, to her relief.

Teri waited until his footsteps were long gone before hurriedly throwing her clothes on, berating herself mentally. Why would she assume that Nemath had flown Aeneth? She hadn't seen R'meri in days. She didn't even know if they were in the Weyr during the flight. It was stupid of her to assume anything like that. She shouldn't have even hoped in the first place. A hot tear dripped onto her hand and she sniffled, wiping her eyes furiously, trying hard to stave off bitter disappointment.

"Of course there's more than one brown dragon in the Weyr," she muttered angrily to herself. If only she hadn't seen Hanoth's wings, then she wouldn't have jumped to conclusions so easily. As the memory of brown blurs sweeping into her vision tracked through Teri's mind, she froze in the middle of struggling into her twisted tunic, one arm stuck over her head.

She had seen. She had seen the entire flight play out in full motion.

"Are you dressed?" said I'an's muffled voice.

Teri jumped, galvanized back into motion. "Not yet!" She yanked the stubborn tunic down around her head. "Don't come in!"

"All right, take your time," I'an said with an unmistakable chuckle.

Teri scowled, adjusting her trousers rather forcefully. Why did he think everything was so funny? "Okay, you can come in now."

I'an's feet, now booted, entered the room and stopped. "That's a new way to wear a tunic," he remarked wryly.

Teri's hands flew to her front, felt the unusually high neckline pressing against her throat. "So? I like wearing my clothes backwards," she retorted, fighting the beginnings yet another blush that was heating her face. "What happened to you being starving?"

"All right, I'll stop teasing you. Shall we head down to the dining cavern and see if we can scrounge up anything to eat?" I'an's feet stepped closer, his hand closing around Teri's.

"No, you go ahead," Teri said, pulling away and folding her arms behind her back. Hanoth may have flown Aeneth, but that didn't mean Teri would go strolling around the Weyr with I'an. "I should get to the infirmary and check in with Faire," she added. She needed to retreat to a familiar place, needed to regain a sense of normalcy.

"I'll walk you over there, then."

"No, I can walk on my own, thank you," Teri said, her voice on edge.

"Right." I'an paused for a moment before continuing, "Do you know the way, then? Because I don't recall ever having you in my weyr before."

"Oh." Teri opened her mouth to speak, and closed it again, feeling slightly foolish, then defensive. She could possibly have found her way, if Aeneth were awake to direct her. Or maybe even Wren. Where was that firelizard when she needed him? Where was her cane?

"Here, we'll walk slowly so you can learn the way." I'an took her hand and placed it in the crook of his arm. "Ready?"

With a resigned sigh, Teri nodded, holding onto his elbow as he led her into the corridor. She ducked her head to hide a scowl. The day after her mating flight, and a strange brownrider was escorting her to the infirmary. So much for regaining normalcy. Jana was never going to let her forget this.

* * *

><p>R'meri's feet hit the ground almost before Nemath's as the pair landed in the Bowl, so eager was the rider to be back in the Weyr after three days of absolute tedium spent dogging the crawling heels of a tithe train. J'den had found the perfect punishment in the form of caravan guard duty. With the alarming increase of bandit activity along most of the highways between establishments, the holders were hard pressed to transport any sort of goods. Even several of the holds' tithes had been waylaid, and the Weyr was beginning to feel the shortage of supplies. R'meri and Nemath were in the first wave of dragonriders deployed to guard caravans trafficking to and from holds in the vicinity, in the hopes that the presence of a dragon would prevent any attacks.<p>

R'meri was caked in dust and weary to his bones, but he strode right through his weyr, pausing only to hang up Nemath's harness and toss his riding helmet onto his bed. His stomach was still turning from the unsettling bit of gossip they had picked up during their arrival. An odd feeling he couldn't quite name compelled him to investigate and postpone a much needed and very tempting hot bath.

_Where are you going?_ Nemath asked reproachfully. _I've been in a harness for three days. I want to be washed._

_Can it wait? I need to do something, _R'meri said. _You should go swim in the lake for now, and I'll scrub you later._

Nemath was still grumbling, but R'meri had already dismissed him and started down the path towards the infirmary.

Aeneth had risen and was caught by Hanoth—the Hanoth who had impressed that I'an. He hoped it wasn't true. Aeneth was the right age for her first mating flight, he knew that, but he never would have expected I'an and Hanoth to fly her. His guts felt as if he had swallowed a chunk of firestone.

The healer's bay was empty save for Jana, dully cataloguing the various supplies stacked on the shelves.

"R'meri!" she said, her eyes gleaming, all too eager to abandon her task. "Where've you been? Haven't seen you in a while. You look awful. Looking for Teri?"

R'meri paused, unsure of which question he should answer first. "Uh, yes?"

"I guess you heard the news, eh?"

R'meri nodded distractedly, hoping to get away before Jana could launch into another of her lengthy commentaries on current events. "Yes, could you tell me where she is?"

"In her new weyr, of course. I'an was helping her move her things earlier this morning."

"What? New weyr? With I'an?" R'meri's stomach flipped.

"Yes. I thought you said you heard the news. They're weyring together, you know, since Hanoth—"

"Flew Aeneth, I know," R'meri said. He felt the blood draining from his face.

"You have been out of the loop," Jana said. "Where were you?"

"Caravan duty. I have to go." Once outside the infirmary, R'meri stopped and leaned against a wall for support. The exhaustion of three days out on the road dragged on his shoulders like ill-fitting wherhide. Teri, weyring with I'an? The news was more than he could handle. He needed to find Teri and warn her, before she got hurt.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

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><p>As snippets of dinner conversation swirled around her, Teri sipped her wine slowly, savoring a moment of rare stillness. From the moment she had returned to the infirmary from I'an's weyr a week ago, Jana had bombarded her with questions and unending chatter. Later that day she had discovered that she was being moved into I'an's weyr. Sarehi had been so elated for an excuse to get rid of her weyrmate that she had shuttled nearly all of Teri's things to the brownrider's quarters before the other girl knew what was going on. Teri was glad not to have to deal with Sarehi any longer, but she didn't much like the idea of living with a strange man. Riders often shared a weyr after their dragons mated, N'hal had explained to her. Some became, or were already, intimate, but not all. Teri shuddered at the thought, thankful that I'an had not expected her to share his bed. He had made up a cot in the adjoining room and left her with the main chamber. They had both been too busy to cross paths often in the past few days.<p>

"How's the wine?" N'hal asked from across the table.

"Not bad," Teri replied, running her fingertip along the rim of her glass. She had acquired the taste for wine at the Weyr, never having had an excuse to drink it at Keroon. Aren hated the beverage and consequently never gave it to her. Tears pushed unexpectedly into Teri's eyes at the thought of her brother. She wondered what Aren would have done if he found out his little sister had been bedded by some strange dragonrider. Probably go and thrash I'an within an inch of his life. Teri chuckled sorrowfully at the thought. She missed him terribly. More tears threatened to spill and she reached for the wine flagon to refill her glass but a hand closed over hers before she got a hold on it.

"Not too much before you eat," N'hal said gently. "Wine can do bad things on an empty stomach."

Teri withdrew her hand quickly and smiled half-heartedly. "Right. Thanks."

"Just here to take care of you." The musical sound of liquid pouring filled the brief silence, covering up the background noises of faint conversation. "What were you thinking about?" N'hal asked.

"You could probably guess," Teri said, propping her chin on her hands.

"Aeneth's mating flight?" At her nod, N'hal continued. "I figured as much, but I didn't want to assume anything." He sighed, speaking softly, distantly. "I don't know what's the hardest about it all, the awkward morning after, or the way everyone asks you about it as if they were discussing a new haircut. Dragon passion is frightening, having no control like that, especially when you're unprepared. You may even feel violated, but there's nothing anyone could do. It's nature. Happens all the time and will happen even more."

Teri raised her head slowly in surprise. N'hal's words hit home unexpectedly, echoing most of the worries that had dogged her.

"I was there too, once. Remember?" he said. The table creaked as he leaned forwards, his knuckles brushing hers. "Can I give you some advice?"

"Here to take care of me?" Teri asked with a smile.

"You've got that right," N'hal replied drolly.

"You don't need to ask, go ahead," she murmured.

"From one greenrider to another, don't be ashamed. It's a part of who your dragon is, who you are. You'll both mature and it will get better. Who knows, you may even enjoy it," he added in a scandalized whisper.

Teri laughed "Heaven forbid." She touched N'hal's hand hesitantly "Thanks. I'm glad you told me that."

N'hal turned his hand over to squeeze her fingers.

"Can I ask you a question now?"

"Is it about my first mating flight?" N'hal asked warily.

"No," Teri answered, blushing furiously.

"That's all right then," he replied, hiding a chuckle.

Teri pursed her lips, unsure how she should phrase her thoughts. Her preoccupations about I'an had kept her from fully mulling over the concept. "During Aeneth's mating flight, while she was in the air, I could see. Not with my eyes," she amended quickly, "but through Aeneth's. I could see everything she could, at the same time. We've been practicing visualizations, Aeneth and I, and I can find my bearings off of her images, guess where she is, and pick up objects. So I'm used to seeing through her eyes in a way, but never like this. Do you think it could happen again, outside of another mating flight?"

N'hal was silent for a moment. "I don't know," he replied slowly. "I've never really thought about that. I know what you're talking about though. It's happened to me during Rinth's mating flights. I guess it's just some sort of phenomenon, but could it be duplicated?" his voice grew soft, as if he were thinking aloud. "Maybe it's caused by extreme emotion on the dragon's part, emotion that only one mind can't handle, so it spreads and pulls the rider in too."

"Would you be able to do it again if your dragon experienced some emotion as extreme as mating?" Teri asked. It was a slim hope but a hope nonetheless. If she could see with Aeneth, they might be able to fly independently, and even go _between._

"I don't know if you'd want your dragon to have such a strong emotion," N'hal said. "What would have to happen to cause that?"

"I guess that's true." Teri folded her hands beneath her chin to think.

"We're back," pronounced Jana, wafting in on the distinct aroma of tubers.

"With food," added Faire. Teri grinned and sat back in her seat. The benches scraped as the two healer women settled themselves down, Jana beside Teri and Faire with N'hal.

"Here you go," said Faire, pottery clanking against the tabletop. She slid a plate into Teri's hands, moist tendrils of steam caressing the girl's face.

"Tubers again?" N'hal asked.

"That's all most of the Holds could afford to tithe," Faire replied grimly. "Harvest was as bad this turn as it was the last."

"Good thing they're my favorite," N'hal said, his voice garbled by a mouthful of tubers.

"Mine too," Teri replied, grinning at the greenrider's sarcasm.

As the meal neared an end, Faire and Jana excused themselves to their quarters. Teri lingered over the cold remains of her food. She had no more work at the infirmary for the day, but she didn't want to return to the weyr, in case I'an was there.

"We're running low on wine," N'hal said. "I'll go get more."

"All right." Teri propped her chin on her hands, content to wait and think. She listened with half an ear to the sounds of the Weyr settling down for the evening as her mind wandered.

"Teri," said a familiar voice, "Can I talk to you?"

Teri's elbow slipped off the table as she started in surprise. "R'meri!" A flush began to heat her face. "Where have you been? No one's seen you in over a week."

R'meri's boots scuffed awkwardly on the floor. "I know. I'm sorry. I've been really busy."

"It's all right," Teri said. "I understand why you were avoiding me."

"I wasn't avoiding you," R'meri protested.

Teri chuckled softly. "I'm not stupid, R'meri. But it's all right. I know that J'den will keep punishing you if you stay around me. Maybe it'd be better to keep our distance. That way, if I get caught flying again, J'den won't be able to blame you."

"You're flying again?" R'meri asked. "By yourselves?"

"Yes," Teri replied, "once I get another harness."

"You can't fly by yourselves!" R'meri said.

"Why not?"

"Because it's—it's too dangerous. How are you going to know where you're going?"

"Aeneth will tell me," she replied. Despite N'hal's hesitation, she knew she would find a way to see out of Aeneth's eyes again.

"Teri, it's not going to work."

Teri blinked, taken aback. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"I'm serious," R'meri said. "Don't try anything. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Thanks for your concern," Teri retorted, "but I'll be fine. I can take care of myself."

"Teri, be realistic."

Teri narrowed her eyes, her forehead creasing in a frown. "What do you mean? Are you saying I don't have the ability to fly?"

"You really think you do?" he asked quietly.

Teri felt the impact of his words like a blow to the stomach. "Then why did you help me before?" she demanded, the bench rocking as she stood.

"Teri, please." R'meri took her hand. "Sit down. You have to understand."

She jerked her arm away sharply. This was all too familiar for her liking. Memories from Keroon flooded her mind, where she had always been rejected, or worse, simply pitied because of her disability. "Did you ever believe in me, or were you just pretending because you felt sorry for me?"

"I honestly wanted to help you fly, Teri," he said, "but things change."

"Like what?"

"Like seeing firsthand how helpless you are in the air."

A wave of cold rushed through Teri's body. "I'm not helpless." She spat out each word as if it left a sour taste in her mouth.

"You haven't seen yourself flying."

Teri's eyes stung. How could R'meri betray her like this? He was her first friend in the Weyr. He had saved her life, convinced her to stand at the Hatching even when she had been banned as a candidate, taught her to fly. Yet in the end, he was the same as J'den, believing she was a helpless, worthless dragonrider. She inhaled sharply and prepared to launch on an infuriated tirade, but she was interrupted by a familiar and entirely unwelcome voice.

"Is there some trouble here?" I'an asked smoothly.

"No," Teri replied, her voice cracking, despite her efforts to stay composed. "We're fine."

"What do you want?" R'meri demanded, uncharacteristically aggressive.

"I just wanted to speak with Teri," I'an replied. "I don't think we've met. I'm I'an, Teri's weyrmate."

Teri fought the urge to gag.

"I know who you are," R'meri said.

"That's a pleasant surprise, but unfortunately I'm not privileged to the same knowledge about you," I'an said, a hard undercurrent in his otherwise impassive voice.

"I don't like associating with lowlifes," R'meri replied.

"Wait," I'an said, "you look familiar. Aren't you Yolanda's kitchen boy?"

"Stop it!" Teri said. "Both of you! I'm sorry, I'an, but this isn't the best time to talk. Can you please go?" She turned towards R'meri. "What is wrong with you?"

R'meri grabbed her arm and pulled her close. "Teri, you need to stay away from I'an," he whispered urgently in her ear. "You don't know who he is."

"Stop trying to be so concerned about my welfare. I don't want you to patronize me anymore." Teri tried to pull away from him, but he was too strong.

"I'm not patronizing. I care about you!" R'meri said, his fingers tightening on her arm.

"Let go of me!" Teri twisted in his grip.

"You heard her," I'an said. "Let her go."

"I thought I told you to go away," Teri snapped.

"You're hurting her, you big oaf," I'an said.

"Stay out of this, you thieving bastard," R'meri snarled.

Before Teri knew what was happening, there was the sound of a fist striking flesh and R'meri's grip was loosened. He hit the ground with a thud. The bench scraped against the floor amid the sound of pottery shattering as the blows continued. Teri cried out in alarm, her exclamation echoed by various voices around the cavern.

* * *

><p>The two brownriders sat awkwardly on a hard bench against the wall, looking like a pair of felines that had been dragged in by the scruff. It had taken four men to separate them as they scuffled. I'an, several turns R'meri's senior, sported a swollen lip and a jagged cut along his hairline that oozed blood slowly. A dark red stain seeped through the sleeve of his light shirt, but there was no tear in the cloth. R'meri's eye was purple and swollen shut. Blood trickled down the fingers he held to his nose.<p>

G'rel regarded them silently, his arms folded across his chest. Dragonriders never stooped to fist fighting, especially not in front of the entire Weyr. G'rel had seen his share of turns, but never before had he seen riders disgrace themselves like this.

R'meri shrunk under the Wingleader's scrutiny, his shoulders hunched. I'an was better at concealing his shame, if he felt shame at all, his rigid posture betraying no emotion. He met G'rel's gaze without flinching.

"I can't believe that I'm here right now," G'rel said. "Look at yourselves. You're a disgrace! Brawling in the middle of the dining cavern. Are you dragonriders or runny nosed holder brats?"

R'meri shifted uncomfortably. "He hit me first," he mumbled, his voice barely coherent past his hands.

"Is that all?" I'an scoffed. "Just shift the blame?"

"Shut your trap, brownrider," G'rel growled. "You're already in enough trouble."

I'an's grey eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. The Wingleader continued to stare pointedly until the younger man looked away. G'rel felt his teeth go on edge at the sight of the blonde rider's defiant expression. He wished he could sentence I'an to the lowest drudge work, but J'den had other plans for him. G'rel didn't like it. He had always been wary of the brownrider. Hopefully, tonight's incident would make J'den realize that I'an shouldn't be trusted.

G'rel turned his attention to R'meri. The younger rider looked miserable, his face a patchwork of purple blotches and red smears.

"Clean yourself up," G'rel said. He flung an old rag at him in disgust.

R'meri flushed almost the same color as his hair and bent his head quickly to wipe his face.

"Both of you are suspended from active wing duty until further notice." G'rel muttered. "R'meri, take yourself down to the infirmary and get patched up. You'll report to Yolanda again in the morning."

R'meri nodded gratefully and slid off the bench. I'an stood as if to follow, but G'rel stopped him.

"I didn't dismiss you," he said coldly.

I'an's eyebrows drew together in confusion and he slowly sat back down. "But I thought—"

"J'den needs to talk to you," G'rel said.

"About what?" I'an asked warily.

G'rel barked out a harsh laugh. "Relax. You're not going to be whipped or anything. Unfortunately, the Weyrleader needs your help."


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks to everyone who reviewed!

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><p>CHAPTER 7<p>

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><p>Teri was sitting with Aeneth on the dragons' shelf when I'an returned to the weyr. She groaned as she heard his approaching footsteps echoing in the hallway. Hanoth rumbled pleasantly on his couch across the room. Teri curled into a tight ball and huddled closer against Aeneth's warmth. She had no desire to talk with the brownrider. Her anger at both I'an and R'meri still simmered beneath her skin, but it had lessened earlier in the evening. She knew that if she was irritated, it would flare up all over again. More emotions were the last thing she wanted to deal with. She just needed to cool off and sleep.<p>

_You can't stay here all night, you know_, said Aeneth.

_Why not?_ Teri asked. _Don't you like me?_

_I do, but this is where I sleep._

_I don't take up that much room._ Teri pressed her cheek against Aeneth's bumpy hide.

_I might squash you._

_True,_ Teri conceded. _I'll go back in once I'an goes to bed._

_Why not now?_ Aeneth asked. She let out a massive sigh._ I'm sleepy._

_I'an's in the room._

_So?_

_I don't want to talk to him._

_You're strange._

_Well, you picked me,_ Teri said with a smile, stroking Aeneth's side.

Aeneth curled her tail around her rider's feet, her thoughts unraveling slowly as her consciousness sank into sleep. Teri let the dragon go, wishing she could escape the waking world as easily. Her smile faded as she listened to the noises of I'an moving around in the other room. She continued to run her fingers over Aeneth's hide, exploring every wrinkle and ridge. The sound of I'an's bare feet grew louder as he entered the outer room.

Teri stiffened. Although she was on Aeneth's far side, hidden from view, she was afraid he might notice her presence. There was a thud, followed by a soft curse from I'an and the rustling of a glowbasket being uncovered.

Teri mentally prodded Aeneth awake. _What's going on? Can you show me?_

The green's mind grudgingly stirred just enough to produce a blurry silhouette of a man leaning his head against the neck of a large, dragonish lump. The image lasted barely more than a moment, but it stamped itself indelibly into Teri's mind. She felt vaguely contrite for intruding on their intimate moment.

"She's here?" I'an's murmur was barely audible. "Teri? Are you there?" he asked in a louder voice.

_Hanoth asked me where you were,_ said Aeneth.

_You betrayed me!_

_I wouldn't have answered him if you hadn't woken me,_ Aeneth replied.

_Fine._ Teri sighed. She couldn't get out of it now. "I'm here, I'an." She uncurled herself and stood, reaching for her cane.

"There you are," he said. "Can you change a dressing for me? I have an old Threadscore that reopened tonight."

"You didn't go to the infirmary?"

"No." He let out a soft, self-deprecating chuckle. "I didn't want to take the chance of running into your friend again."

"You mean R'meri? The one you assaulted?" She couldn't keep a snappish bite from her voice. Her anger simmered, waiting for an outlet.

"Right. That one."

"Fine." Teri stepped around Aeneth's couch and into the inner room. "Where do you want to do this?"

"I have bandages and ointment on the table." I'an's footsteps caught up with her quickly. His hand found the small of her back to help her into a chair, but she pulled away from him, sitting on her own. She reached over the table top and located everything before turning towards him.

"Where is this dressing?" she asked.

"My arm. It's the same score you dressed earlier. Here." He lifted her hand to the loosely bound bandage. Her fingers came away sticky with blood.

"Dragonriders," she muttered to herself.

"It's reopened once before," I'an said. "I strained it when Aeneth rose."

Teri's fingers slipped, dropping a soiled binding. Her face went hot.

"Thank you for doing this, Teri," I'an said after a moment.

"That's all you're going to say?" Teri asked. She pulled the bandage carefully away from his wound, keeping a hand by the spot for reference.

"Am I missing something?"

"Don't you think you should at least apologize?" R'meri had wounded her far more than I'an, but the red-haired rider was far away in his weyr and Teri wanted some satisfaction.

"For what?" I'an asked.

Teri stopped in the middle of cleaning his skin with a damp cloth. He couldn't be serious. "What else? For butting in earlier and picking a fight with R'meri."

"You want me to apologize for that?" he asked incredulously.

"Of course! You attacked my friend!" The word burned her as it left her mouth. She had believed R'meri was her friend, but it was all a lie.

"Some friend," I'an scoffed. "He was hurting you and I stopped him. Shouldn't you thank me?"

Teri threw her hands in the air, exasperated. How dare he act like he was her protector, as if they meant something to each other? "I didn't ask you to interfere! I told you to go away!"

"I was just helping you."

"I don't want your help," Teri snapped, throwing down the used cloth. "I don't want anyone's help. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

"Why can't you just swallow your pride and accept help when it's offered?" I'an said. "It's not an insult."

"It is when no one lets you do anything without supervision." Teri snatched up the clean dressing and began to tie I'an's arm with fierce, short movements.

"Teri—"

"Just shut up. I'm tired of everyone doubting me. I'm not a child, I'm a dragonrider. Why can't everyone just leave me be!" She tied off the end of the bandage and crossed her arms over her chest. "There's your dressing. Can I go to bed now, or did you need something else?"

The bell signaling a change of watch tolled in the silence as Teri waited.

I'an exhaled. "I guess there's just one little thing," he began, his voice flat.

"What?" Teri lifted her chin defiantly.

"You—missed. You wrapped the wrong part of my arm."

The warmth drained slowly from Teri's face. "Oh."

"The scores are higher up. I thought I should tell you, but it didn't seem like you wanted any help."

A hot flush set Teri's cheeks tingling. "I'll fix it then," she muttered. Her anger morphed to cold shame that slid down her back, leaving a slime trail of perspiration along her spine. If only she could disappear, slip _between_ and reappear back in her own weyr, in the infirmary, or anywhere else.

I'an guided Teri's hand to his arm and sat still as she retied the bandage.

"Thank you," he said when she was done. Without another word, he stood, leaving Teri alone at the table.

* * *

><p>Teri spent a restless night, her mind backtracking fruitlessly over her conversations with I'an and R'meri. She slept badly, her sole consolation being that I'an was already gone when she awoke the next morning. Holding her sheets up to her nose, she listened for a few moments to make sure the other room was empty. The only sounds she could hear were the normal morning noises of the Weyr filtering in through the opening to the dragons' shelf. She sighed and slipped out of bed, throwing on her clothes for the day.<p>

Teri walked straight to the infirmary, not even stopping when she heard R'meri's voice calling her name hesitantly as she passed the dining cavern. She ignored him, the pain of his betrayal still stinging.

"There you are!" Jana's voice greeted her as soon as she stepped into the infirmary. The older woman accosted her, seizing her elbow and rushing her to a stool. "I've been waiting for you all morning."

"Am I late?" Teri asked, confused. She hadn't gotten lost on her way from I'an's weyr that morning. It had taken the better part of a week, but she now felt confident navigating the walk down to the infirmary. "I thought it was only eight hours."

"I know it is. I've only been here for an hour, but it was awful. Faire's assigned me to scrubbing the necessaries. Don't worry, I washed my hands," Jana added at Teri's grimace. "And on top of that, I've been dying to know what's inside your mystery package."

"What mystery package?"

"Here!" A small, soft bundle was pressed into Teri's hand. "I'an left it for you earlier this morning."

"What? Why would I'an leave something for me here?" She flushed as she remembered her embarrassment from the night before. Had he left her some prank to get revenge? She hoped a grown dragonrider wouldn't stoop to such pettiness.

"That's what I've been wondering," Jana said. Her voice dropped into a conspiratorial whisper—which would still be audible from across the room. "Did anything happen last night?"

"No," Teri replied firmly. "Nothing of the sort you're thinking of." She turned the bundle over in her fingers. It was so light; she wondered if anything was under the wrappings. "Are you sure it was I'an who left this?"

"You think I would confuse I'an with someone else? Come on, Teri, just open it!"

Teri's hands trembled as she untied the wrappings and ran her fingers over the contents. They felt like scrap pieces of knotted cord. "What is this?" she asked, bemused.

"They're knots," Jana said in surprise. "This set's for a healer, and this," Jana guided Teri's fingers to a cord tied in a simple loop, "is for a greenrider. It even designates Benden Weyr."

Teri closed her hand around the cords, her eyes suddenly stinging.

"Where's your wherhide?" Jana said in excitement. "I want to sew these on!"

Teri's voice squeezed out hoarsely from her tight throat. "It's up in my weyr. We'll have to do it later." She opened her hand slowly and ran a fingertip down each short length of cord. He had remembered. She couldn't believe it. Her rash words from the evening before echoed in her ears and she bit back a groan. She was such a fool. "I guess he really is a decent fellow," she murmured to herself guiltily.

"Evidence that rumors aren't always true," Jana said.

"What rumors?"

"Well," Jana began with relish that set Teri smiling against her will. Gossip was the healer woman's specialty. "No one knows where he came from. He showed up on the Weyr's doorstep a holdless waif some turns ago. He was fifteen turns old, so maybe not quite a waif. Anyways, one of the women in the kitchen took pity on him and brought him into the Weyr. Then one day he was Searched out and impressed. There were some rumors as to what kind of life he led while he was holdless, but I like to say that he's an heir of some ancient Bloodline, fleeing the ambition of a murderous usurper."

Teri snorted. "That's ridiculous, Jana."

"Then it will never do any real damage like other rumors. Besides, I think it matches his rakish good looks." Jana heaved a dramatic sigh. "It's too bad you can't appreciate them."

"I'll leave the appreciating to you," Teri said with a wry smile.

"Jana!" Faire called from the back room. "I asked you to scrub the necessary, not flood it!"

"Oh!" Jana sent her stool clattering as she stood. "I've got to go!"

"Teri," called Faire again, "I need you back here too."

"Coming!" Teri gently rewrapped the knots and tucked them into her waistband. I'an would have to wait until her duties were done. She entered the back room, inhaling the familiar smells of numbweed and sandsoap.

"N'hal's gone today," said Faire, "so you'll assist me to check up on all the patients."

"Where is he?" Teri asked, rolling up her tunic sleeves.

"A small holding outside of Pell Hold."

"What happened?"

"They were attacked last night," Faire replied grimly. "The house was burned and three people were killed. N'hal is overseeing the care of the survivors."

"Shells, that's terrible." Teri covered her mouth with cold fingers. Her voice shook as she continued, "Was it a bandit attack?"

"I don't know what else could have happened. There have been several attacks in the area, most by the same group, it seems. They're a holdless gang led by a man named Dathan."

Teri lowered her head mutely, trying not to think about Aren's death. "I've been hearing about attacks on traders and some of our tithe caravans, but never a holding."

"This is the first time I've heard of it as well. The times are hard and people are desperate." Faire cleared her throat. "Come on, we've got beds to check."


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

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><p>That night, Teri's sleep was haunted by dreams. She dreamt she was walking beside her brother, looking up into his oddly obscured face. He looked nothing like the fifteen-year-old she remembered seeing last before losing her vision, but somehow she knew it was him. He smiled down at her, the sun high in the sky behind his head, the green Keronese fields from her childhood spreading out around them. Teri took his hand, cool and firm as they walked. A breeze picked up, pulling and elongating the blades of grass into trees that threw them into shadow. The grass-trees flung out branches that blocked the warm sunlight. Suddenly cold, Teri drew close to Aren's side and something warm began to run over her fingers and drip down her arm. Blood poured from a hole in the center of Aren's chest. He pressed one hand to the wound as if trying to staunch the flow, his unfamiliar forehead and eyebrows crinkled in confusion. Teri's heart lurched in horror. She opened her mouth to speak, but the dream wind stole the words away. The shadows grew deeper and Teri's view of lush Keroon disappeared completely. The darkness swallowed her and she lost hold of Aren's hand, left only with the wetness of his blood on her fingers.<p>

Teri woke to a strong hand gripping her shoulder, shaking her urgently.

"Teri, wake up!"

She gasped and sat up, her tangled sheets clammy from sweat. Her cheeks were moist with tears, her eyes swollen and stinging. She covered her face with trembling fingers and tried to swallow the sobs that racked her body so she could breathe.

"It's I'an." The hand hovered on her shoulder for a moment before letting go. "You were crying out in your sleep."

"Please don't leave me," Teri gasped, groping instinctively in front of her. The blackness surrounding her seemed to thicken and grow colder without his touch. She felt like she had just woken from the fever that took her sight six turns ago, opening her eyes to empty blackness. "Where are you?"

"I'm here."

Teri found I'an's hands and held them as hard as she could.

"What's wrong?" he asked in alarm.

"Don't leave me alone," she whispered.

"I—I won't." He returned the pressure on her fingers gently.

Teri gulped down air until she could breathe normally. Her heart slowed and bits of information began to register to her confused senses. Her rush-stuffed mattress was lumpy as always beneath her, her sweaty skin sticking to her cotton bedding. The air was scented with a combination of spicy dragon smell, leather, herself, and the sandsoap she used. She could also smell I'an, a foreign scent like musty sunlight that she was gradually getting used to, and even associating with home.

"Are you okay?" I'an asked. He spoke softly near her ear.

Teri nodded, her sobs slowly subsiding to hiccups and trembling breaths.

"I'm going to get you something, but I'll come right back, I promise."

Teri's fingers tightened convulsively as I'an began to pull away.

"Hey," he said, "it's going to be all right. I'm not leaving you."

"Sorry," Teri mumbled, forcing herself to let him go. She twisted her hands in the sheets instead, holding on as if the darkness were going to swallow her up and whisk her _between._

_Black…blacker…blackest…_

"I'an?" the query slipped out from trembling lips as her pulse sped up again. What if he had gone? She couldn't hear his footsteps anymore. Was she still dreaming? If she was, who knew what monsters would materialize from the darkness.

"I'm right here." I'an's hand enveloped hers, wrapping her fingers around a ceramic cup. "Drink this, it'll help."

Teri tipped the cup slowly to her mouth until the cool liquid sloshed against her lips. The wine was strong and pleasantly spicy, washing away the sour taste of sleep. She drank until the cup was empty. "Thank you."

"That was some nightmare," I'an said. "I shook you for a full minute before you woke up."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm just glad it's over, right?"

Teri nodded and sniffled. "Would you hold my hand again?" she asked, her voice a barely audible wisp. "I feel so alone."

"Oh, of course. Just don't break my fingers this time?" I'an chuckled weakly.

Teri's fingers interlaced with his and she squeezed them gratefully. His palm was callused and dry, unlike her swampy hand. His fingers, long and sinewy, wrapped over her knuckles and rested on the back of her hand. He was real, solid, and sitting right in front of her. The feeling of utter isolation left from her dream slowly dissipated.

"So," began I'an after a moment, "what was this dream about?"

Teri squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip. "I dreamt about my brother," she whispered, "about how he died."

"I'm sorry," I'an said. "I didn't know."

"It was over a turn ago, right before I came to the Weyr."

"How did he die?"

Teri exhaled slowly, her real memories jumbling with the fading colors of the dream. In reality, she hadn't actually seen Aren's blood, but she still remembered the smell and the slick, warm wetness that seeped through her clothing as his limp body pinned her to the ground. "We were traveling with a merchant train from Keroon to Benden Hold. On the second day, we were attacked by bandits and he was killed. I was the only one of the caravan to survive."

I'an's hand jerked, but did not pull away completely. He swore quietly, his breathing harsh. "I'm so sorry, Teri." A moment passed before he continued, his voice shaking. "More than you know."

"It wasn't your fault. But thank you." She laid her other hand over I'an's. "I suppose I should also thank you for the knots. That was very kind of you."

I'an inhaled deeply. "I did some thinking," he said, his voice still shaking slightly, "and I'm sorry I struck your friend."

Teri lifted a thin shoulder in a half-shrug. "He kind of deserved it." She heaved a sigh. "I'm sorry about afterwards, when I was dressing your arm."

"You know, you weren't the only one at fault," I'an said. "I'm sorry too. Can we be friends?"

Teri gave a shy smile. "I would like that. I should warn you though. I tend to get my friends in trouble."

"That makes two of us."

Teri's smile broadened, the tension finally leaving her body. The darkness seemed much less cold and foreboding. She eased her hold on I'an's hand. He cleared his throat awkwardly and the mattress rustled as he shifted his weight.

"Teri, there's something you should know," he began slowly. "About me."

"Are you the exiled heir to an old Bloodline?"

"What?"

Heat flushed Teri's face. She didn't know what made her blurt out such a ridiculous idea. "It's a silly theory that Jana has about your past."

"Who is Jana?" I'an asked blankly.

"She's one of the healers. She told me about you," Teri confessed, her ears and neck warm with embarrassment, "about how you were holdless before you came to the Weyr."

"Oh." I'an pulled his hand away. "What else did she say?"

"That's all. Don't worry," Teri continued quickly, uncomfortably aware of I'an's silence. "Jana isn't one to gossip maliciously. She may be an idle chatterbox, but she didn't mean any harm."

I'an let out his breath. "Sorry, I didn't realize that people still talked about me. I'm not really the popular topic anymore, not since a certain blind girl impressed."

Teri blushed faintly and rolled her eyes. "Oh that. I'm sorry to steal your fame. You can have it back."

"No thank you," I'an said earnestly.

Teri laughed with him. He had a pleasant laugh, bubbling up from his chest. It didn't irritate her anymore, like it had the first day they were together. Teri blushed again at the realization. They were sitting on her bed in the middle of the night, chatting and laughing like friends. Because they were friends, she reminded herself. I'an was no longer the strange dragonrider in whose bed she awoke after her first mating flight. Maybe Aren wouldn't have had to thrash him after all.

"So," I'an said. "Now you have knots—"

"But still no Wing," finished Teri.

"Are you going to fly?"

Teri folded her legs beneath her and interlaced her fingers in her lap. "I don't know," she said softly. R'meri's words echoed in her memory and she clenched her hands together. She couldn't ask him to help her again, and she didn't know how much she could do on her own. His betrayal had shaken her confidence in her own abilities more than she wanted to admit.

"Are you a dragonrider?" I'an asked.

Teri nodded.

"Does your dragon have wings?"

"I've never seen them, but I'm pretty sure they're there."

"Then what question is there?"

Teri sighed and wrapped her arms around her knees, drawing them up to her chest. "I wish it was that simple. I still have to make a harness, and I'd be going directly against the Weyrleader's orders."

"Hm. That does complicate things." I'an was silent for a moment. "I don't know what to tell you about the Weyrleader, but as for the harness," a grin was unmistakable in his voice as he continued, "I made some friends in the kitchens and storerooms when I first came to the Weyr. Friends who owe me a few favors."

Teri shook her head and snorted. "You're a liar."

"What?"

"You said you didn't know what to tell me about J'den, and then you offered to help me finish my harness. It's pretty clear what you think of his orders."

"And what is that?"

Teri smiled faintly. "Forget him and fly anyways."

I'an guffawed. "You're good. But you forgot the most important part." He enunciated each word clearly, "Don't get caught."

"That's a mistake I won't repeat."

"Good girl." I'an's hand brushed hers as he took the empty cup from her. "It's late and I've got drills in the morning. We'll continue our subversive plots later. For now, will you be able to sleep?"

Teri nodded and unfolded herself.

"Good." The bed creaked as he stood.

"I'an?"

"Yes?" his footsteps paused at the far side of the room.

"Thank you," Teri said penitently. "I think you're a good man."

I'an was silent for a moment. "I hope so, Teri," he said so softly that she didn't think she was meant to hear. "Good night."

Teri scooted beneath her covers and settled her head back into her pillow. She remembered briefly the questions she had wanted to ask him about his past. And hadn't he wanted to tell her something? She stored the thoughts away for later and rolled into a more comfortable position. The wine was warm in her stomach and she was too tired. Exhaustion settled over her and she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

* * *

><p><em>Wake up, Aeneth.<em> Teri waited, one hand resting on the dragon's foreleg. She held the straps of her harness slung awkwardly over her left shoulder. The Weyr was silent, the predawn air cold on her face. No one but the watch dragon and some of the women in the lower caverns would be around. She and Aeneth could get a quick flight in before the rest of the Weyr awoke. N'hal and I'an were both busy for the rest of the week, so if they wanted to fly, they would have to do it in secret.

_Wake up!_

Aeneth rumbled grumpily and shifted her weight on the sleeping couch, the edge of her wing clipping Teri's head.

_Hey! _Teri protested, rubbing the sore spot on her temple. _Come on, Aeneth. Are we going to fly today or what?_

Aeneth's consciousness remained stubbornly asleep and her breathing grew louder, as if purposefully blocking out Teri's thoughts.

"Fine," Teri muttered and sighed. _You're getting fat and lazy, you know that?_ She headed back into the weyr, careful not to wake I'an. Her nightmares had lessened over the weeks, but every so often a dream was bad enough that he would get up to wake her. The weyr was quiet enough for her to hear his even breathing from the other room.

For the past three months, Teri had been swallowed up in the speeding rhythm of Weyr life, driven on by the relentless pattern of Threadfall. With I'an's help, her harness was finished within a week, but finding occasions to use it proved more difficult. N'hal and Faire petitioned to Aliana for Teri and Aeneth's flight ban to be lifted, purely for health reasons. They argued that Aeneth needed the exercise. After a few weeks, the Weyrleaders finally allowed the pair to fly simple loops under strict supervision. It was a far cry from proper training, but at least they could be in the air once or twice a week. N'hal supervised her flights most often. Occasionally I'an would watch her, but he was busy with drills and fighting Fall. The few rest days he had he spent taking care of Hanoth and sleeping. Most of the time Teri spent with him was in the evenings, listening to his descriptions of wing formations or tricky new flight patterns.

After the fight in the dining cavern, Teri rarely heard from R'meri. Undoubtedly, he knew about her exercise flights, yet he had made no effort to seek her out. Although losing his friendship grieved Teri, his lack of faith hurt her more.

Teri hung her harness on the wall, feeling for an empty peg beside her wherhide jacket which now sported her greenrider's knots. She sat on her bed, pulling her knees up to her chin. She was too awake to try to sleep again, so she ran through the visualizations she had been memorizing. The Weyr Bowl from above, the lake, the feeding ground. Aeneth had fed each image to her over the weeks. Some details Hanoth and I'an filled in. Teri was beginning to be able to call up the visualizations with greater accuracy, sustaining them in her mind's eye. When I'an and Hanoth weren't busy, or even N'hal and Rinth, she would check her memory against their sight, relaying images through their dragons.

Teri probed at Aeneth's mind again, encountering the weird nonsense of dragon dreaming. She sighed and kicked off her boots, settling into her bed to wait for morning. So much for her plans of flying.

* * *

><p>N'hal pulled off his riding helmet as Rinth settled onto the hot sand of the Hatching Ground. The sands were empty, except for the score or so mottled eggs nestled in the back of the cavern. Esmeth was out, probably hunting or exercising with her rider. His passenger sighed against his back and released the death grip she had had around his waist.<p>

"Are you all right?" N'hal asked.

The girl, Celene, nodded. Her thin face was flushed. "I've never flown before."

"You did well," N'hal said as he dismounted. "The last candidate I brought in lost her lunch all over my jacket."

Celene wrinkled her nose and groaned sympathetically. "That must have been terrible."

N'hal shrugged. "Just part of the job." He held out his hand to help her down. "Careful, the sand is hot."

They quickly crossed the sand to the entrance into the Weyr, Celene practically running to keep from burning her feet.

"Is this where the eggs hatch?" she asked.

N'hal nodded. "They're right over there." He pointed towards the mounds half-buried in the shadow of the curved cavern wall.

Celene's lash-ringed blue eyes widened as they moved over each egg. "How many are there?"

"Twenty-three," N'hal replied, "counting the new queen egg."

Celene's face brightened in anticipation. She paused on the threshold to the Weyr, looking back into the shaded Hatching Grounds.

"You'll be out there in a few weeks," N'hal said.

The girl flushed, but her chin was high and her shoulders squared, excitement winning over her nerves.

"Come on, let's get you settled in."

Once Celene was handed off to the candidatemaster, N'hal loped back to the infirmary. The three wings that had fought Threadfall earlier that morning held records for the lowest rate of injuries. There were only five riders in the infirmary. A blue dragon had fared the worst from the fight, deep scores across one flank. Teri and Jana were cleaning his wounds in the adjoining cavern.

"I can take over for you, Jana," N'hal said. "Faire could use your help with some sutures inside."

Teri turned her face toward him at the sound of his voice, smiling faintly. "Back from Search?"

N'hal rolled back his shirtsleeves. "Yes, just one candidate today. Who do we have here?"

"This is Pirith. D'nian, his rider, is inside with a scored leg."

Pirith rumbled in pain, a whirling orange eye turning to look at the two healers. Teri held out a cloth soaked in numbweed.

"Poor Pirith," she murmured. "He's hurting a lot."

N'hal nodded grimly. Angry, black-edged lines were seared in a web-like pattern into the dragon's blue hide. Metallic-smelling ichor oozed thickly and dripped onto the sandy ground. N'hal took the numbweed bandage and laid it gently over the warm blue flank. Pirith let out a relieved whuff of phosphine-scented breath and rested his head on the ground. N'hal was grateful that Rinth had been spared any major injuries during Fall. As thrilling as it was to fight Thread, he never wanted to see his green's beautiful hide marred by the vicious spores.

"I've been meaning to ask you about Aeneth," N'hal said.

Teri frowned. "She's been sleeping far more than normal, especially this past month." She peeled another damp bandage from the pot of numbweed.

"I noticed that she's gained weight."

"I know," Teri sighed and lowered her voice. "I tried to get her out to fly this morning, but she refused to wake up. I let her sleep the whole day beforehand, so she can't have been tired."

N'hal chuckled. "Maybe she just needs to stay away from the wherries."

Teri wrinkled her nose. "I'an's weyr is much closer to the feeding pastures than my old one."

"It's a wonder that Hanoth stays so lean," N'hal said.

"Probably because Aeneth always beats him to feed." Teri rolled her eyes. "No, she doesn't eat that much. She just needs regular drills and training."

N'hal pressed his lips together sympathetically and their conversation lapsed into silence while they concentrated on their work. Pirith's flesh was hot and inflamed, sucking the numbweed wraps dry after a few minutes. N'hal peeled off the old bandages and dropped them in a bucket by his feet, getting new ones from Teri. Gradually, Pirith's breathing evened out and his eyes slowed their agitated whirling. N'hal smeared healing ointment over the wounds and their job was done.

"You're so brave, Pirith," Teri murmured, patting the blue's foreleg. "Now just stay put for a while so you don't get any sand into your scores."

N'hal watched her small frame leaning against the dragon as she whispered words of comfort. "You know Teri, we should apprentice you officially as a healer," he said.

Teri's face turned up towards him, her brown eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

N'hal picked up the bucket of discarded dressings in one hand and squeezed Teri's shoulder with the other. "You've been an invaluable help for over a turn. You've helped us inventory countless times, become familiar with all our herbs and ointments and their uses. And you already have the knots for it."

A pink flush darkened Teri's cheeks and she half-hid a shy smile. "You know who I have to thank for those."

N'hal grinned knowingly. "Let's get something to eat and talk about this some more."

"Good," Teri said, scooping up her extra supplies. "I'an needs to tell me about a new drill he learned."

The dining cavern was fairly busy when they arrived. The riders whose wings were running morning drills sat and ate quickly on their short break before continuing to train. The kitchen staff worked efficiently, dishing out food onto trays for the hungry riders.

"Do you see him?" Teri asked, holding a plate of steaming greens and tubers.

N'hal quickly scanned the tables of wherhide-clad men and women, finally spotting the sandy-haired rider at the back of the cavern. "There he is. Come on."

Teri placed her hand in the crook of N'hal's elbow and followed him through the cavern. I'an's plate was already half-finished when they met him. He smiled wearily at them, bags under his eyes and a shadow of stubble across his chin.

"H'thal been drilling you hard?" N'hal asked as he sat.

I'an groaned. "You have no idea. Full wing exercises, simulating cross winds and clumpy Fall, and anything else that can go wrong, or at least make fighting hell."

"When are you fighting next?" Teri asked.

"Three days," I'an replied around a mouthful of food. "Thread's scheduled over Bitra."

"Now about this new drill," Teri said.

"Did you get Aeneth to fly yesterday?" I'an asked, his grey eyes twinkling.

"No." Teri poked her lumpy tubers gloomily. "I don't know why she's being so stubborn."

"Not at all like her rider," I'an said, winking at N'hal.

"Not at all," N'hal agreed solemnly. "I don't know where she gets it."

"Shut up, both of you." Teri launched a bit of tuber across the table at I'an, hitting him squarely in the jaw.

"How do you do that?" he asked, wiping his face. "Aren't you blind?"

Teri smirked. "Yes, but your mouth is so big I'm bound to hit it sometime."

N'hal caught a glimpse of R'meri over I'an's head as they laughed. The other brownrider had been watching them stonily, turning away once N'hal looked up. N'hal's smile slid away and he sighed. Poor R'meri. It obviously grated on him to see Teri and I'an get along.

The conversation turned to flight patterns and drills. Teri leaned forward on the table, soaking up every word I'an said. N'hal watched the eager expression on her face as she listened, saw the longing and envy written in the set of her mouth. He imagined the frustration she must feel, hearing about the excitement and glory of a kind of flight she would never experience. At least Aeneth was in the air a few times each week. She would need to get more exercise to maintain a healthy physique, but N'hal wasn't worried. It always lifted his spirits to see her flying. The feeling was ingrained in all Pernese—when dragon wings were in the sky, everything was going to be all right.

Laughter brought N'hal back to the present. I'an had been demonstrating a tricky pass, using Teri's hands to represent two flaming dragons, and had knocked over a flagon of wine with his elbow. He was scrambling around the table to stem the flood. Teri just laughed even as wine dripped into her lap.

"I'll get a towel," N'hal said, shaking his head. He got up, but almost lost his balance as a thunderous roar filled the cavern. Every head turned towards the Hatching Ground. Riders and weyrfolk began to flood clamoring through the doors to see what was happening as another ferocious bellow shook the tables

"What the-" began N'hal, but he was cut off by Teri's fearful cry.

"Aeneth!"


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

* * *

><p>"Aeneth! What's happening?" Teri's voice cracked and she stood on trembling legs. Waves of fear and anxiety that were not her own flooded through her.<p>

"Here, come on!" I'an grabbed Teri's arm and pulled her forwards. She felt the pressure of his grasp, felt her feet stumbling over the stone floor, but her attention was elsewhere, seeking her dragon's presence with her mind's eye. Weyrfolk crowded around her and I'an, clamoring loudly.

"What's going on?"

"Something's wrong with the little green."

"What is she doing?"

"Where's her rider?"

"Excuse us," N'hal said's voice behind Teri's right shoulder. "Coming through. This is Aeneth's rider here." The press of bodies in front of them parted slightly and they moved forward. Teri could feel the heat from the Hatching Ground through her shoes.

"You all right Teri?" N'hal asked.

"Aeneth's in trouble," Teri gasped, holding tight to I'an's supporting arm.

"We're almost there," the brownrider said.

"Aeneth!" cried Teri. Her dragon's distress grew so strong she almost lost her own consciousness. She sprung forward but hands caught her shoulders, holding her back.

"You!" said an angry voice, words barely registering through Teri's mounting mental storm. "Control your dragon! What in the name of Faranth is she doing on the Hatching Ground?"

Another roar echoed through the cavern and Teri's consciousness of self was washed away in a burst of Aeneth's fear. She opened her eyes and vision blasted through her mind.

The gold queen stood across the sand from her, hunched protectively over her eggs. All of her muscles were taut, glistening in the dim light. Aeneth wavered, knowing she was intruding on another dragon's nest, yet driven on by a primal urgency deep within her. She flicked her tail, her claws digging deep in the sand. Eyes whirling crimson and golden wings spread menacingly, the queen lunged toward Aeneth with a piercing scream. Rows of gleaming, razor sharp teeth snapped together just inches away from Aeneth's hide. The queen was torn. Unwilling to leave her eggs, yet equally loath to allow the green to invade her territory, she roared in frustration. Aeneth held her head low, a strange sound that was half growl and half whimper escaping her throat. Her spine arched high like a stretching feline, but she kept her weight back as she sketched a wary half circle around the entrance to the Ground, trying to get past the queen.

Dragons began to line the shelf overlooking the sand to observe the spectacle, colored shapes against the light sky. The senior queen bellowed angrily above them. Aeneth winced, but ignored the reprimand.

The queen facing Aeneth screamed again, tail lashing, and lunged with gaping jaws. Aeneth ducked, but she wasn't quick enough to dodge a second blow. The queen's claws caught her on the neck, leaving jagged lines of pain down to her shoulder. Aeneth staggered back, shrieking.

The pain was enough to shake Teri briefly from Aeneth's consciousness. She jolted back to herself, the dazzling sensation of vision winking out in an instant. Someone was shaking her shoulder roughly, voices jumbling incoherently around her.

"Teri," I'an said urgently, "you have to pull yourself together!"

Teri shook her head, her scattered thoughts slowly coming together. She needed to get control of Aeneth and pull her away from the Hatching Ground before she got hurt again.

"I'm trying," she gasped. She planted her feet firmly and bore down on Aeneth's will, determined not to get swept away again. The green resisted desperately, her anxiety mounting to a feverish pitch.

_Aeneth! Listen to me! You need to leave right now!_

_No!_ Aeneth's response was barely coherent. Teri felt the dragon's will crumbling slightly and she pushed harder, gaining ground. Perspiration dripped down her forehead and into her eyes from the effort.

_I need to find a safe place,_ Aeneth wailed. _My eggs!_

Teri lost her focus for a moment in shock. _What are you talking about?_

_I must find a nest! _Aeneth's determination crumbled, lapsing into misery.

_Aeneth, are you going to lay eggs?_ Teri asked, bewildered.

"Good," said N'hal's voice, interrupting Teri's thoughts. "She's backing out. See if you can calm her down more."

The queen Esmeth let out a final roar and Aeneth answered with an anguished cry. The dragon's consciousness retreated into a dull sense of defeat.

"She's gone," I'an breathed.

"Where did she go?" N'hal asked. "What was she doing?"

Teri's mouth worked soundlessly. "She said she needed to find a nest," she choked out. "N'hal, I think Aeneth's going to lay eggs."

* * *

><p>Exhausted, Teri rested her forehead against Aeneth's snout, her arms wrapped around as much dragon as she could hold. It seemed like hours ago that she had been sitting in the dining cavern, throwing tubers at I'an over their lunch. After Aeneth had left the Hatching Ground, Teri and N'hal caught up with her by the feeding pastures. It took some effort, but they were finally able to coax her back to her weyr. I'an had arranged to take Hanoth to a different weyr for the night, once their afternoon training session was done. Rinth was the only dragon whose presence Aeneth would tolerate. N'hal had sedated her to treat the gashes she had received from the irate Esmeth. The frenetic whirl of Aeneth's thoughts gradually slowed to a lazy trickle.<p>

Teri pressed her cheek against the dragon's hide and suppressed a yawn. She wanted to preserve this tranquil moment for as long as possible.

_Aeneth,_ she whispered, _I love you._

_I'm sorry for scaring you._ Aeneth's voice was sleep-muddled, her warm breath whooshing into Teri's stomach.

_It's all over now, don't worry about it._

_I wanted to find a place for my eggs,_ Aeneth murmured. _They hurt me_.

_It won't happen again. You're safe now, go to sleep._ Teri kissed the dragon's nose and stroked her warm hide.

_Safe… my eggs…_ Aeneth's thoughts slurred and trailed off into unconsciousness.

Eggs. Teri bit her lip. From the time Teri and N'hal had caught up with Aeneth, to their return to the weyr, the green had kept up a panicked mantra about her eggs and finding a place to nest. Teri was exhausted from reassuring Aeneth and persuading her to put off her search. A green dragon laying eggs. It sounded insane, but Aeneth was so certain that Teri found it hard to doubt.

"How is she doing?" N'hal's voice asked above her.

"Fine. She's sleeping." Teri stood slowly. Even that small action left her feeling drained.

"I'm almost finished up here. Lucky she didn't get more debris in these cuts, the way she was wandering around outside."

"Thank you N'hal, for all your help," Teri said with a faint smile.

"Of course. I'm here to do anything you need." His hand squeezed her shoulder gently. "How are you holding up?"

"I don't know," Teri admitted with a deep breath. "It's all so crazy. I don't know what to think."

"This has never happened before, so you're not alone," N'hal said. "It's a lot to absorb at once."

"Is it really happening? Is Aeneth really going to lay eggs?" Teri asked. If Aeneth laid eggs, things would only get more complicated. Would they even hatch? Would the hatchlings be defected? Would they impress? Would they be viable fighting dragons? Who would want to ride a stunted green? Teri suppressed her wild thoughts. All her questions would only serve to drive her insane.

"Not for a few days at the least. The queen riders will probably examine her to make sure she's pregnant," N'hal said.

"I didn't know greens could lay eggs."

"It has never happened before that I know of, but greens are female, like queens. Usually greens are all sterilized before their first mating flight because of the firestone they chew during weyrling training."

"And Aeneth and I didn't go through weyrling training."

"You would be the first pair. I don't believe J'den took that into account when he restricted you. I don't think anyone would have considered the possibility of eggs."

"No, everyone was just concerned with the fact that a blind girl had impressed," Teri said darkly. She sighed and slumped to the floor. She leaned back against Aeneth, but the dragon's warmth wouldn't penetrate her skin. The only blind rider. The only one who never went through weyrling training. The only green dragon who would lay eggs. She wished she could stop being an anomaly and be normal for once. Just a few hours ago, her only concern was to wake Aeneth so that they could practice flying. Now, she had her dragon's eggs to worry about. At least she knew now why Aeneth had gained weight and was sleeping an unusual amount. She snorted softly.

_You could have had the decency to tell me earlier,_ she scolded the unhearing Aeneth.

N'hal's boots creaked as he knelt in front of her and his warm hands took hers gently. "Don't worry, Teri. Everything will be all right."

Teri sighed and forced a smile. It took a disproportionate amount of energy to move her face. She felt weary to her bones. "Thanks N'hal." She squeezed his hand. "Do you remember when I told you about my mating flight? How I could see through Aeneth's eyes?

"Yes."

"It happened again." She quietly related to him all the details of what she had seen and felt. "I understood Aeneth's urgency before she put it into words that she needed to find a nest."

"The extreme emotion we thought would be the catalyst for this kind of melding of consciousnesses," N'hal said to himself in wonder.

"You were right, though," Teri said. "I don't know if I'd want to go through that again, even if it does mean seeing for a while. At least," she amended, "not on a regular basis."

"I didn't think it could be possible."

Teri sighed. "So what now?"

"We wait," N'hal replied.

"But where will Aeneth lay her eggs?" Surely the dragon couldn't clutch in their weyr.

"The Weyrleaders will figure out what to do," N'hal said.

Teri nodded, letting the subject drop. Thinking about J'den was the last thing she wanted to do. She wrapped her arms around her legs and rocked slowly onto her toes. "How long will Aeneth be out?"

"At least three or four hours. We'll have to monitor her as soon as she wakes and see if she needs to be sedated again," N'hal said, exhaling. "You look tired. You should stay here and rest. We can take care of the rest of your duties in the infirmary."

"Okay." Teri uncurled herself slowly and stood, feeling the blood rush back to her legs. A nap sounded heavenly. It would be good to get away from her thoughts for a while.

"Rinth will stay here with you," N'hal said, taking her arm to lead her inside the main room.

Nodding wearily in assent, Teri let N'hal lead her to her bunk. She sank into the mattress with a long sigh, not bothering to crawl beneath the blankets. Her bed had never felt so soft before.

"I'll be back in a few hours." N'hal's words fell on deaf ears. Sprawled on her stomach fully clothed, Teri was already drifting to sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

Thanks divergary and thejadegecko for your reviews! Only one chapter today, but it's longish :). Enjoy!

CHAPTER 11

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><p>Aeneth laid her clutch a week later. Once the Weyrwoman and junior queen riders had examined Aeneth and determined that she was in fact pregnant, the Weyrleaders went to work finding her a place to lay her eggs. The solution lay in Feilon Hold's pottery compound next to their stables. After some negotiation, the Lord Holder gave the Weyr the run of the place. Sand from the Hatching Ground was carted in to fill the enclosed space between the three stone kilns. Firelizard eggs survived in sand filled pots on a hearth, so dragon eggs could easily live in the oven-like heat emanating from the kilns. It was just a matter of keeping the fires hot throughout the duration of the eggs' stay. Within a month or so, Aeneth's eggs would be hard enough to be moved safely.<p>

On the morning Esmeth's clutch was due to hatch, the green dragon eggs had been incubating in their unorthodox nest for five days. Teri stood at the entrance to the compound, the heat from the kilns causing perspiration to bead on her face. She smiled wistfully, thinking of her days in Keroon as a potter's apprentice. The last time she had been near a kiln, she had believed pottery was her key to finding fulfillment in life. She had never expected to come to the Weyr, much less impress a dragon. Teri's hands itched to work with clay again, but there was no time for it. The past weeks had been a whirlwind, leaving her dizzy and barely able to comprehend what had happened. If she hadn't touched the eggs herself, the leathery shells yielding slightly beneath her fingers, she wouldn't have believed it, even after receiving Aeneth's visualizations of the clutch. They were small—less than half the size of gold queens' eggs—mottled brown lumps. Humble vessels for majestic beasts. Despite her doubts, Teri found herself fiercely hoping for the dragonets maturing beneath the shells. Their very existence was a miracle. She hoped they would continue to reshape history.

N'hal sent her back to the Weyr, volunteering to watch Aeneth with Rinth. "It's your first Hatching since you impressed," he said to her. "You should go. You'll find out who the new weyrlings are that you'll be training with."

Once Aeneth had laid her first egg, J'den had given Teri permission to train with the upcoming weyrling class. No doubt he wanted Aeneth sterilized as soon as possible. The new hatchlings wouldn't be old enough to chew phosphine for half a turn, but in the mean time, she was assigned to a stricter routine for flight training. The exercise would be good for Aeneth. They would train three days a week, leaving the green the rest of the time to sit over her clutch.

Teri made her way up to her weyr, a new dress Jana had given her folded over one arm. Her mind was still in the pottery compound with Aeneth and the eggs.

"Hello Teri," said I'an's voice as she entered.

"I'an!" Teri said, hiding the dress behind her back. "I didn't think you'd be here."

"I wasn't assigned to fly in any Lord or Craftmaster. Hanoth and I have just had the day off. I thought I'd get ready early so we could go down to the Hatching Ground together." I'an's foot falls drew closer. "What do you have there?"

"Just something that Jana gave me to wear to the Hatching." Teri tried to fight a blush, kicking herself mentally. She didn't know why she had reacted so strangely.

"Good. I was afraid I'd have to call in another favor in the storerooms to find you something suitable."

"What are you talking about? My normal clothes are perfectly suitable!" Teri said hotly.

"Says the girl who has never seen them."

Teri made a face. "I'm the one wearing them, so I don't know why you care so much." She cocked her head. "What's that dripping sound?"

"Oh, I just got out of a bath."

Teri couldn't hold back the heat that flooded her face this time. "Are you wearing anything?"

"No." I'an cackled wickedly. "I wish you could see your face right now," he crowed.

"I'an! Put some clothes on!"

"Why? You can't see me."

"It's the principle," Teri said, flustered. "I'm not going to talk to you while you're naked."

"You were talking to me earlier."

"Just go get dressed!"

"Fine." I'an's laugh receded as he went into the other room. "You get changed too."

Teri shook her head and crossed the weyr to her trunk. It was strange to be in the weyr without Aeneth. Her couch was oddly empty. Teri could hear I'an singing indistinctly from the other room. It was a lilting melody she didn't recognize, his faint drawl more pronounced. She ducked behind the curtain he had hung for her to make a dressing room beside her trunk. She undressed quickly and folded her clothes.

The smooth fabric of the dress slid through her fingers as she searched for the arm and neck holes. She slipped the dress on over head, the hem of the skirt dropping around her ankles. She secured the sash around her waist and pulled her hair free from the neckline. The dress fit perfectly, snug in the bodice and waist, then flaring gently over her hips. It was blue, Jana had said, which seemed fitting. Its fabric felt like water against her skin. The sleeves hugged her arms to the elbow and widened so that the loose fabric fell halfway to her wrists. She smoothed the skirt over her thighs, a pleased smile lingering on her lips.

I'an cleared his throat outside the curtain. "Are you ready, Teri?"

"Coming." Teri picked up her cane and stepped out from behind the curtain. She let her hair swing in front of her face, feeling suddenly self-conscious.

"You look beautiful," I'an said. "I mean it. I wish you could see for yourself."

Teri smiled shyly. "Thank you."

"Here, I have something for you." He placed a slender stem in Teri's hand, a full head of petals nodding against her palm.

Teri held the blossom to her nose. Its sweet fragrance filled her nostrils, musky and rich like ripe summer fruit. "It's lovely," she sighed.

"Allow me." I'an brushed Teri's hair back from her face and tucked the flower behind her ear. "Perfect. A pretty flower for a pretty girl. Ready?"

"Ready."

Teri felt the dragons' humming deep in her chest as they made their way down to the Hatching Ground. Excitement was contagious in the buzz of raised voices around them. Teri drew close to I'an in the press of people, his arm wrapping protectively around her. For once, she didn't mind his solicitous touch. He was taller than she had imagined. She guessed that the top of her head was level with his chin. The air grew warmer as they entered the Hatching Ground, heat emanating from both the sand and the crowd of people pouring into the terraced galleries of the cavern.

I'an guided her up the risers, whispering a commentary on all the people they passed. "There's the Lord of Benden and his new Lady, sitting with the Masterweaver. They're looking at you, Teri."

"What do you mean?" Teri noticed that the excited chatter quieted around them as they passed.

"You're the blind dragonrider, the rider of the green dragon who clutched," I'an said. "You're famous."

"Being well known for my blindness hasn't really turned out well for me," Teri said wryly.

"Not everyone is as close-minded as J'den," I'an replied.

They found seats near the top of the galleries. The stone bench was warm, vibrating with the dragons' humming. Wren dropped onto Teri's shoulder, adding his higher-pitched thrum to the crescendo that filled the cavern.

"It's getting close," I'an said in her ear.

Teri's heartbeat quickened until it matched the subtle pulse of the dragons. She thought of Aeneth in the sand-filled pottery compound. She wondered if the dragons of the Weyr would thrum in anticipation over her scattering of half-sized eggs as well. Then a crack sounded through the cavern, followed by a gasp from nearly every throat. The Hatching had begun.

A bronze hatched first, I'an informed her, followed by a succession of two greens, a brown, and another bronze. Teri was unable to hold back a grin, the creels of the hungry hatchlings transporting her back to the confusion and fear of her own impression. Deprived of candidate training, Teri had not known what to do on the hot sands. She had been so confused and disoriented that she would have wandered off the sand, if Wren hadn't herded her towards Aeneth's egg.

"Thank you," she whispered, reaching up to scratch Wren's head knob. The firelizard nuzzled her hand in pleasure.

The rest of the eggs hatched so quickly that I'an barely had time to breathe as he narrated the events. His arm had rested over her shoulders nearly the entire time. She found his warmth and closeness comforting, yet slightly unsettling at the same time. Her heart fluttered and stomach tightened—not unpleasantly—each time his breath warmed her ear as he spoke.

Like the collective gasp that signaled the first egg cracking, a soft sigh circled through the audience as the last hatchling—a brown—impressed. The sounds of the hatchlings quieted as the successful candidates were ushered into the Weyr and murmurs and excited chatter began around them.

"Shall we go down to the feast?" I'an asked, cutting through the ecstatic conversation of two miners whose young friend had impressed. His hand moved to the middle of her back.

"Yes, I'm starving!" Teri stood, tucking her cane under her elbow. I'an placed her hand in the crook of his elbow and led her down the tiers. This time, Teri caught some of the whispers as they passed.

"That's the girl. I've heard her dragon laid nine eggs."

"She's the blind dragonrider."

"I wonder if she fights Thread."

"I told you," I'an said as they reached the sand. "Everyone's talking about you."

"I noticed," she replied dryly. "At this point though, I just want to get something to eat."

A lively melody filtered from the dining cavern as they followed the stream of guests and riders from the Hatching Grounds. Not all of the Weyr had attended the Hatching. Most of the weyrlings had been assigned to help in the kitchens to prepare and serve food.

Teri began to recognize more of the voices around them as they entered the cavern, the music growing louder in the enclosed space.

"There you are!" said Jana's voice, falling in on Teri's other side. "I've been looking for you everywhere. You look fantastic, Teri. Don't I have great taste? Anyways, it's good to see you both finally acting like weyrmates. I was beginning to think you didn't like each other."

"It's a Hatching," I'an quipped. "We get along for special occasions."

Teri elbowed I'an in the ribs, reaping a yelp from the brownrider for her efforts. "Come on, let's find a seat. I could eat a whole wherry."

The feast began with a toast to the new riders and hatchlings, a gravelly voice that I'an named as the Masterharper Turyn doing the honors. Then the cavern filled with the sound of benches and chairs scraping as everyone sat and the meal began in earnest. The kitchen had put out their greatest effort on the food, aromatic slices of roasted wherry, fresh loaves of herbed bread that released clouds of steam into Teri's face as she cracked one open, tubers that were flavorful and seasoned in ways their daily fare never was. Teri ate heartily, protesting when Faire heaped more meat on her plate.

"You're too skinny," the older healer muttered. "That dress you're wearing looks ready to fall off your bony shoulders."

As the feast progressed, the conversation was lively and amusing, everyone feeling at ease in the celebration. Teri met two bronze riders from I'an's wing who sat across from them—E'mond and T'shel. The two baited I'an mercilessly and she laughed harder than she had in a long time.

After a while, the feast slowed and wine and klah were poured as dirty plates were cleared away. Teri felt briefly sorry for the weyrlings who were serving, unable as they were to truly appreciate the celebration. E'mond launched into an account of T'shel's escapades in weyrling training. Teri sipped her klah quietly and listened to the pleasant rhythm of E'mond's baritone voice. She joined in as the rest of the table erupted in laughter at his description of how T'shel had fed his bronze Gerlith so much that the fat little dragon had gotten stuck in one of the back passages in to the training ground.

"You could hear the little beast's squeals across the entire Weyr!" E'mond's laughter nearly drowned out the lively dance reel a quartet of Harpers had struck up across the cavern.

"Before my fellow rider here succeeds in humiliating me completely," T'shel said in an exasperated voice, "would any of you like to dance?"

Jana piped up immediately and Teri grinned into her mug. She would undoubtedly hear everything about the dance the next morning in the infirmary.

"Ah, trust T'shel to ruin our fun." E'mond sighed. "Faire, would you join me for a dance?"

"No, I'm too old for that kind of thing," said Faire, chuckling.

"I'an, may I steal your lovely weyrmate?"

Teri was sitting close enough to I'an to feel his shrug.

"The girl has a mind of her own," he drawled. "You should ask her."

"Teri?" asked E'mond hopefully. "Would you like to dance?"

Teri set down her mug and shook her head quickly. "I don't know how."

"It's nothing. Just stay on your feet and I'll do the rest. Come on," he cajoled as she hesitated. "A man can only handle so much rejection. If you say no, I'll have to ask I'an, to be polite, and he dances like a drunken watch wher."

"Now that, I'd give my knots to see," Teri said, laughing over I'an's protestations, "but since there's no chance of that happening, I'll dance with you and spare everyone else the pain." She stood, E'mond taking her hand and leading her out onto the dance floor.

Teri recognized the tune from Gathers and festivals at Keroon, her feet following the beat easily. E'mond was an excellent lead, twirling her, drawing her in, and lifting her in the air effortlessly. She had never danced those particular steps before, but she found herself moving confidently. E'mond's sure hands held hers, moving to her back to pull her out of a spin, to her hip to signal a change in direction. All too quickly, the song ended with a flourish and E'mond dipped her backwards, one arm behind her waist to support her weight. Teri laughed delightedly, her blood still singing through her body to the music's beat.

"That was incredible," she breathed as he lifted her upright, the cavern breaking out into applause around them. "Thank you."

"The pleasure was mine," said E'mond. "You'd make a great dancer. You're incredibly light on your feet."

"Only because you did everything," Teri replied.

"On the contrary, I've never danced with anyone so sensitive to my leading."

A throat cleared behind Teri's right shoulder. "May I have this next dance?" I'an asked. "I need to defend my abilities against E'mond's slander."

"Oh no," E'mond groaned, passing Teri's hand reluctantly to I'an. "Watch out for your toes," he whispered to her.

"I heard that," I'an said dryly.

"As well you should!" E'mond exclaimed. "This girl is an excellent dancer. If you break her feet, you'll answer to me. I want to dance with her again tonight."

"Get out of here, you're taking up floor space!"

E'mond's laugh receded as a new song started, leaving Teri and I'an on the floor. Teri rested her fingers in the brownrider's hand lightly. They hadn't begun dancing yet, but her heart was already thudding in her ears.

"Since E'mond is so worried about your toes," I'an said, pulling her close, his free hand resting on the small of her back, "why don't you stand on mine?"

"What?" Teri asked, bemused.

"Here, lift your feet."

Teri obeyed, her foot coming down to rest on the toe of I'an's boot.

"Now the other one. There." With both of Teri's feet standing on his, I'an held her close and rocked slowly back and forth, lifting her foot with his whenever he took a step. "Now your toes are completely safe."

Teri swallowed hard against the tightness that was constricting her throat. She lowered her chin and blinked, hoping I'an wouldn't see the moisture gathering in her eyes. Aren used to dance with her like this. As a gangly young boy with curls that frizzed out into a halo around his head, he would dance at least once with his baby sister standing on his feet, until he got older and began to listen to his friends' teasing.

"What are you thinking about?" I'an murmured into her hair.

"Nothing," Teri said, smiling up at him. They were standing so close that she had to crane her neck back to keep from talking directly into his chest.

"My talent for dancing has left you speechless, hasn't it?"

Teri laughed. "Right. E'mond is no comparison." She turned her head and listened to the slow melody, trying to catch the harpers' lyrics.

"Wait till they play another fast song," I'an said. "Then you'll really be amazed."

"I like this song. This tune was popular in Keroon when I was younger, but the words were different."

"Will you sing them for me?"

Teri made a face.

"Come on," I'an said. "You've heard my caterwauling in the weyr. This is no harper who'll be listening to you. Please?"

"Fine," Teri said. "But if you laugh, I'll break your toes."

"Fair enough."

Teri listened for a moment to find the key, then began singing softly.

"_You left me where we first found love  
><em>_In the meadow by the trees  
><em>_You told me that though you'd be far  
><em>_Your heart would be ever close to me._

_If you come back, my love, you'll find me waiting  
><em>_Don't you come back, my love, if my heart you'll be breaking  
><em>_Only come back, my love, if you've been waiting for me._

_I'm still here where our love once bloomed  
><em>_Where the sun goes down in the west  
><em>_I told you that whatever I'll do  
><em>_My thoughts of you will always be best._

_If you come back, my love, you'll find me waiting  
><em>_Don't you come back, my love, if my heart you'll be breaking  
><em>_Only come back, my love, if you've been waiting for me._

_Seasons have passed and the world turns on  
><em>_And you're still gone from me  
><em>_I'll wait for you until I can go too  
><em>_And join you beyond _between.

_If you come back, my love, you'll find me waiting  
><em>_Don't you come back, my love, if my heart you'll be breaking  
><em>_Only come back, my love, if you've been waiting for me."_

After the second verse, Teri picked up the harmony for the rest of the refrains, her voice weaving around the harpers' melody. The music faded slowly, a single gitar picking the last strains of the chorus.

I'an's chest rose and fell against Teri's ear as he exhaled quietly, their slow rocking and turning coming to a stop. "That was beautiful, Teri."

"My mother taught it to me," she murmured, her face warm with pleasure.

"She must have been a wonderful singer."

Another fast paced song began, a pipe trilling over the syncopated rhythms of a high tambor drum. They reluctantly broke apart, the moment dissipating like smoke in a breeze.

"Are you thirsty?" I'an asked, clearing his throat. "Why don't we take a break for wine?"

Teri grinned. "Aren't you going to amaze me by dancing to a fast song?"

I'an chuckled nervously. "I'll save that for another time. I can't use up all my tricks in one night, you know."

"All right," Teri said, laughing. "Lead the way, brownrider."

Teri sat at their table to wait while I'an went to find some wine. Faire was gone, as well as T'shel. No doubt Jana was still dancing, with a handsome new rider for each song, if she had it her way. She hoped E'mond would come back so she could dance with him again. The fast steps and quick spins of a dance with E'mond would help her clear her head and shake off the odd feeling in her gut left after dancing with I'an.

"Forgive me if I seem forward," said a deep, gravelly voice, "approaching you without being introduced, but my curiosity got the better of me. My name is Turyn. May I join you, my dear?"

Teri started slightly, recognizing his voice a peculiar accent from the toast he had made at the beginning of the feast. "Yes, Masterharper," she said, flushing. "It would be my pleasure."

"The pleasure is all mine, to sit with the lovely dragonrider in Harper blue. If this color didn't suit you so well, I ought to think you would wear green, to match your dragon."

"Thank you," Teri said, unsure of what to say. Her palms were sweating and she dried them unconsciously on the skirt of her dress.

The Masterharper clicked in his throat, as if remembering himself. "I'm an old fool. Here I am, prattling about the color of your wardrobe when I'm sitting with the rider of the only green dragon to have laid eggs in the whole history of Pern. Teri, is it? Tell me about yourself, my dear."

Teri uncrossed her legs and shifted her weight nervously. "What do you want to know?"

"I'm a harper, so I love a good tale. Tell me your story."

Teri scrambled to gather her thoughts. "I come from Keroon." As she launched into her narrative, her trepidation faded away. The Masterharper was a good listener. He put her at ease with encouraging comments and she began to trust him. Gaining confidence, she told him of her childhood illness, her flight from Keroon, Aren's death, her impression and time at the Weyr, ending finally with Aeneth's clutch of eggs. She fell silent, her nerves returning slightly as she waited for the Masterharper to respond.

"Remarkable," he breathed after a moment. "And there will be candidates to stand when the eggs hatch?"

"They are dragon eggs," Teri said. "I don't see why they shouldn't."

"That's the spirit, my dear," the Masterharper said, a smile unmistakable in his voice. "You are quite the young lady. You and that brownrider I'an do make quite the pair."

"You know I'an?" Teri asked.

"Why yes," the Masterharper said. "He has quite a remarkable story as well."

Teri nodded. "From holdless boy to dragonrider."

"Not just holdless," said Turyn, "but part of a bandit gang as well."

"What?" Teri frowned, sure she must have misunderstood his accent.

"A bandit gang," Turyn repeated. "You do know about this, am I correct? He agreed to help Lord Ragon's militia track down that troublesome crew of Dathan's. I am told he is quite the woodsman."

Teri's hands were cold and clammy as she clutched fistfuls of her skirt. Her mind reeled. She had heard the Masterharper correctly, there was no doubt. He continued to talk, but she didn't hear him. She had trusted I'an, and he had lied to her.

The harper quartet finished a particularly complex composition. As applause burst out around the cavern, Teri made some excuse and took her leave of the Masterharper. Her hand shook as she gripped her cane and stood. The introductory notes of another song beginning grated on her ears, the chatter of conversation around her making her head pound. She needed to get away, to find a quiet place. Her feet carried her automatically down the now familiar path to their weyr, the sounds of the celebration fading in the empty stone hallway.


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

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><p>Teri was sitting on Aeneth's vacant couch, her knees drawn up to her chin when she heard the footsteps coming up the hall to the weyr. She had changed back into a shirt and trousers, Jana's dress folded in the bottom of her trunk. She plucked fragrant petals one by one from I'an's limp flower, dropping them onto the stone by her bare toes.<p>

"Teri?" came I'an's voice from the main room. She heard the rustle of glowbaskets being uncovered. "Teri, are you in here?" His footsteps crossed into the dragon's shelf. "There you are! I was looking for you everywhere. E'mond too. He wanted to claim you for another dance. What are you doing up here? Where's your dress?" He stepped nearer and touched her shoulder gently. "Teri? Is there something wrong?"

A hot tear fell onto Teri's shaking fingers as she continued to disassemble her blossom, followed by another, and another. "You lied to me," she whispered into her knees. She remembered how R'meri had tried to warn her all those months ago, and mentally kicked herself for the hundredth time that evening. If only she had listened.

"What did you say?" I'an tipped her chin up. "Why are you crying?"

"You lied to me!" Teri swatted his hand away and stood, the stripped stem of her flower crushed in her fist. "You let me believe you were some poor holdless boy, but you were a bandit!"

I'an swore under his breath. "It was so long ago Teri. That's not who I am anymore."

"I told you how my brother died," Teri said in disbelief, not bothering to wipe away the tears that ran freely down her cheeks. "And you were just like the people who killed him."

"I didn't kill your brother!"

"You still should have told me the truth!"

He swore again. "Okay, I made a mistake. I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you."

"It doesn't seem like it," Teri snapped. "I had to learn who you were from the Masterharper, a complete stranger!"

"I'm sorry," he repeated through clenched teeth. "I should have said something a long time ago, but I was scared."

"Of what?"

"I was afraid that my family might have been responsible for your brother's death!"

An angry retort died in Teri's throat and she stepped back, stunned.

"I didn't know how I could face you if they were," I'an continued, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

"Your family?" she asked softly. In her anger, the possibility that he had a family hadn't crossed her mind.

"I was born into a bandit gang. I didn't choose it," he said bitterly. "My father, brothers, sister were all members. It was the only way of life I knew."

"What happened to them?" Teri sank back onto Aeneth's couch.

"They're still out there, living as they've always done."

"How do you know? Do you still speak to them?"

He let out a hopeless scoff. "No, but I hear enough about my father to know what they're doing. His name's Dathan. Surely you know who he is."

"Dathan's your father?" she asked in disbelief. "But the Masterharper said that you were helping Feilon's militia track him and his crew."

I'an gave a self-deprecating snort. "A pretty little mess I've gotten myself into, haven't I? I don't want my family to continue killing and stealing from innocent people, but I doubt the militia intend to give them only a slap on the wrist for their crimes."

"Why did you agree to do it?"

"I didn't have a choice. Even if I did, what could I tell J'den? I've never told anyone that Dathan's my father. I had a bad enough reputation because I was holdless. Why would I want to be known as the son of an infamous bandit? I just wanted to live my life and stay out of trouble." He was silent for a moment, his ragged breathing harsh in the quiet. "At least you know the truth now," he finished hollowly. "I'm sorry I lied to you. I wouldn't blame you for hating me."

Teri didn't speak as I'an exhaled. Her anger was gone, burnt out and doused in a deep sadness wrought from understanding. She stood and walked slowly toward I'an, hand outstretched. Her fingers landed on his chest. She stepped closer, hands travelling up to cradle his face. His head was hanging low, his chin nearly brushing his chest. She pulled up on his chin, thumb wiping away a tear that trailed down his jaw.

"I don't hate you, I'an," she said softly. "I didn't know. Thank you for telling the truth." She rested her head against his chest and wrapped her arms around him, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart.

I'an remained still for a few heartbeats, then his arms encircled her in return. "Thank you, Teri," he whispered.

She sniffled and tightened her hold around him, quiet sorrow hollowing out her insides. Tears leaked out from under her closed eyelids and soaked into the soft linen of his shirt.

"What's wrong?" he asked gently.

She shook her head and wiped her nose on her sleeve. "Nothing. I'm sorry for what I said."

His hand cupped her face and tilted her chin upwards. "You didn't do anything wrong."

Teri had a split second's warning, but it wasn't enough to prepare her for what came next. I'an kissed her, his lips warm against hers for an electrifying moment. Tingles danced down her spine, her knees wobbling slightly when he pulled away. The tips of their noses still touched.

"I have snot on my face," she blurted dumbly. She felt like a giant hand was squeezing her lungs as she stood pressed against him. The lack of oxygen must have been the reason why her thoughts were so scrambled.

He laughed softly. "I think I can deal with it." He kissed her again and her attempts to gather her thoughts flew to pieces. His hand slid down to her waist, the other cradling the back of her head. She rose to her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening their kiss. Warmth spilled through her whole body, a heady flood of sensation. She was caught off guard, though, as his mouth traveled down to her neck, his breath tickling her skin. She yelped, her shoulder jerking upwards in reflex. Her forehead collided with I'an's face and they broke apart.

"Ow!" I'an's voice was muffled and oddly nasal. "What just happened?"

"I'm sorry! I didn't realize I was so ticklish." Teri rubbed her sore forehead. Her face couldn't decide whether to flame with embarrassment or break out into a grin. Her body was still hot and her heart pounded.

"I think you broke my nose."

Teri couldn't stifle a snort at the ridiculous sound of his plugged up voice. "Sorry," she repeated as sincerely as she could while fighting down helpless giggles. "Are you always this smooth with women?"

"Most women I kiss don't have skulls like watchwhers," he replied dryly. "Shards, I'm bleeding. Well, at least one of us is having a good time," he commented as Teri dissolved into laughter.

She pulled on his arm, gasping for breath so she could speak. "Let's go inside and get you cleaned up."

"I don't know if I should trust you with my face again."

Teri let out a fresh burst of laughter. "Just don't touch my neck and you'll be fine." The brownrider grumbled indistinctly and followed her into the main room.

Once I'an's nose had stopped bleeding and he washed his face and hands, he joined Teri on her bed, the mattress dipping as he sat beside her.

"You owe me a story," Teri said, turning her face towards him. She sat cross-legged, her hands folded expectantly in her lap.

"How's that? You just broke my nose."

"That just means you're a terrible kisser," Teri replied matter-of-factly. "Tell me, how did you come to the Weyr?"

"Oh that story. It's not that interesting," he said through a yawn, his drawl becoming more pronounced than usual.

"You're not getting out of it," Teri said firmly. "I told you about myself. It's only fair you return the favor."

"I guess you're right." I'an breathed in slowly before beginning his narrative. "Well, I ran away from the band when I was fifteen. We're a fairly small group, fifteen in all, counting the women and kids. I had been going out on raids with the men as a lookout or scavenger since I was twelve. Dathan gave me a knife to use, but I only ever cut purse strings." He paused for a moment and his voice dropped to a whisper. "It was snowing when we left on my last raid. It was so cold that my hands turned blue while we waited to ambush the merchant train we had tracked. The fight was over quickly. There were only two armed guards and the merchants were too dull from cold to do much. They didn't kill all of them, just knocked them unconscious. Dathan and the rest of the men went to work unloading the wagon and I went around to search the bodies. You see, I'm not as good a person as you thought."

Teri found I'an's hand and squeezed it tight. "Go on."

I'an continued haltingly, his voice toneless and flat. "One of the merchants came to while I was taking his purse. He grabbed my arm, so I panicked and stabbed him in the chest. I killed him, Teri. He was unarmed and helpless, and I killed him for a few baubles." His fingers trembled in her hand, belying the emotion that was absent from his voice. "I couldn't stay after that. I left during the night, spent two days blundering through the forest, and ended up at the Weyr nearly frozen to death."

Teri sighed softly, her heart aching for him. "And you haven't seen your family since."

"Right."

"What are you going to do about them?" Teri asked.

"I don't know." I'an interlaced his fingers with hers. "Stall as long as I can. Maybe when I'm finally sent out there, I won't be able to track them anyways. Either way, I'm not going to be able to run this time," he added quietly.

Teri racked her brain for something to say, some encouraging word or offer of hope. She knew what it was like to lose family and feel at fault, but she couldn't imagine being in I'an's position. She had come to the Weyr by stowing away in a merchant caravan. She was following her brother Aren, who was being fostered from Keroon to Benden. When bandits attacked them on the road, Aren had tried to protect her and was killed. Teri had been racked with guilt, believing that he would have survived if she hadn't been there, if he hadn't had to keep her safe. After she became friends with R'meri, he had helped her finally see that she wasn't responsible for her brother's death.

Teri reached for I'an's face, her fingers grazing his cheekbone. She ran her hand up to his hairline and brushed his hair back from his forehead. It was an old gesture that had been ingrained in her from childhood. Her mother used to do the same thing to comfort her and Aren. She remembered her mother sitting beside her sickbed and stroking her hair before coughing into a handkerchief. Teri had been sick with the fever. It was the last time she ever saw her mother. Both of her parents had fallen ill soon after Teri and died.

"I'm so sorry, I'an," she said.

"What am I going to do with myself?" he asked quietly.

"You're a good man."

He scoffed. "I'm a coward. And a liar."

Teri shushed him, her hand on his face. "You could add scoundrel to that list, but overall you're still good. You'll find a way."

"I am not a scoundrel," he protested.

Teri leaned in and held a finger over his lips. "Shut up."

I'an chuckled, taking hold of her hand. "Only if we can try that kiss again."

The warmth grew again in Teri's insides as his mouth softened against hers. He pulled her closer and she wrapped her arms around his neck, leaving her worries for the morning.


	13. Chapter 13

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I realized that I never made a disclaimer: I don't own Pern or dragons or Weyrs or numbweed or any of that. It's all the work of wonderful Anne McCaffrey. Thanks to Ms. McCaffrey, for letting us play in this awesome world that she created :)

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><p>CHAPTER 13<p>

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><p>Nydia paused at the edge of the treeline to catch her breath. The moon was low in the sky, a sliver of a crescent hovering just over the treetops on the other side of the valley. The pasture was less than half as wide as it was long, running down from the edge of the forest to the rocky rise at the end of the valley. She could see the stone walls of the Weyr Bowl high on the top of the slope, several miles away. Nydia focused her attention on the Feilon stables, a squat structure sitting in the center of the pasture. The low, humped forms of cattle and draybeasts surrounded it, enclosed by a flimsy makeshift fence. No guards were posted that Nydia could see. It seemed too easy. She glanced over to where Marko and Evas were hunched behind a thick briar. Evas held up his fist and signaled twice. He and Marko melted into the shadow of the trees, then two dark figures slipped out one by one across the grass, toward the fence. Nydia scrambled to follow. Evas could have at least had the decency to explain his signals to her. She was young, only fourteen turns, but she wasn't stupid.<p>

Marko had already disassembled part of the rude fence, tossing the heavy slats to the side. The beasts were huddled together in the middle of the closure, lowing softly and stamping their feet.

"How are we going to do this? Go in and lead them out one by one by the ear?" whispered Nydia skeptically.

"You and I will go in and cut off a small group and lead them towards Marko. Just a few beasts, mind you. We don't want the whole herd stampeding out here," Evas replied.

"I don't know, Evas. I have a bad feeling about this," she said.

Evas turned to her, his scowl barely illuminated in the faint moonlight. "Just do what I say, girl. You're not even supposed to be here."

Nydia glowered and nodded grudgingly in assent. Satisfied, the older man hopped over the fence, followed closely by Nydia. The beasts stirred slightly as they slunk closer. A few of the male cattle raised horned heads in their direction. Nydia inhaled deeply, her heart hammering. She just knew that they were going to get trampled, but she couldn't back down now. Evas' silhouette disappeared behind the dark bulk of the beasts.

The faint moonlight flickered slightly over the landscape and the beasts at the far end of the enclosure began to bellow in distress. Nydia looked up suspiciously and fear glued her tongue to the roof of her mouth. A huge shape was descending from the sky towards the stable, its wings obscuring the moon's light.

"Evas!" she yelled, her voice sounding strangled. "We need to get out of here!"

"Run, girl!" Across the field, his dark form darted towards Marko's opening in the fence.

Nydia forced her legs into motion. Evas was already out of the enclosure, he and Marko sprinting towards the treeline. Nydia misstepped, the ground caving in beneath her foot, and she sprawled out, her ankle cracking audibly. She bit back a scream of pain, curling into a ball and clutching her hurt leg.

"Who's out there?" a voice called from the direction of the stable. "N'hal, looks like we've got intruders." A torch bobbed along the outside of the fence.

Nydia cursed roundly and rolled over onto her hands and knees. She tried to stand, but as soon as she put weight on her injured foot, jagged pain sliced up her leg. She yelped and tumbled forward again, scraping her palms on the ground.

"Show yourself!" The torch bobbed nearer.

Nydia dropped her forehead on the patchy grass with an angry sigh. Evas and Marko were long gone. "Cowards," she muttered to herself. She knew she had only herself to blame for landing in this mess.

"What are you doing out here, young lady?" A stocky man in wherhide stepped into Nydia's vision.

Nydia pulled herself up and tried desperately to crawl again. Her foot caught on a rock and she doubled up, hissing in pain. The man clambered over the fence and shoved the butt of the torch into the grass.

"Are you injured?"

"Don't touch me!" Nydia recoiled as he stepped towards her.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said cautiously, holding his empty hands out. "My friend's a healer, he can help you."

"What's going on, G'lan?" A second man appeared, thinner and lankier than the first.

"A girl, looks like she's hurt her leg."

"I'll take a look." The thin man jumped the fence and strode to her. "What happened?" he asked. "Don't worry, I'm a healer," he continued as she glared at him. "My name's N'hal."

Nydia looked suspiciously from one man to the other. She growled under her breath. There was no way she was going to get away now. "My ankle," she muttered resignedly. "I stepped in a hole while I was running."

N'hal knelt beside her, his hands surprisingly gentle as he pulled up the leg of her trousers and traced along her ankle bones. She inhaled sharply as his fingers probed a particularly painful spot. He nodded grimly and sat back on his heels.

"It's broken. Can you stand? I'll have to take her back to the Weyr," he added to the stocky man standing a short distance away.

They were dragonmen! Nydia's heart began to race. If they took her, she would never escape. "I'm not going anywhere!" she snapped.

N'hal stood over her, his lips pressed into a grim line. "Sorry, but you're coming with me, either upright or slung over my shoulder. You're not going to get anywhere on that ankle."

Nydia scowled up at his impassive face, her mind racing. Going to the Weyr would mean certain imprisonment, or even death. She shuddered, wondering if they fed prisoners to their dragons.

"Look," N'hal said after a moment. "I'm not concerned about who you are or what you were doing in the Feilon cattlefields in the middle of the night. I don't want to get you in trouble, I just want to help you." He held his hand out to her, waiting.

Nydia's ankle twinged with pain again and she bit her lip. After a moment of weighing her slim options, she sighed and took his hand. He was strong despite his thin build, lifting her up easily. She stood shakily on her good leg as he ducked under her arm and held her around the waist.

"Come get her other side, G'lan."

The stocky man grabbed the torch out of the ground and wrapped her other arm around his broad shoulders. "This way," he said.

Suspended between the two dragonmen, Nydia hobbled painfully, cursing herself mentally with each step. She couldn't help imagining Evas and Marko carrying stories back to everyone else at the camp. Nydia, the stupid girl who was trying to prove something, getting herself caught on a raid she wasn't even supposed to be on.

The dragonmen guided her past the stable to a low, white-walled building on its other side. Heat emanated from the open entrance, bringing perspiration to Nydia's face.

"This is far enough," N'hal said, ducking out from beneath Nydia's arm. "I'll get Rinth harnessed up."

"Lemoth's on the other side of the building." G'lan sat Nydia down in the broad doorway to the strange building.

"Good." N'hal nodded. "I'll be right back," he added to Nydia before disappearing into the darkness around the other side of the building.

Nydia glanced suspiciously at the stocky rider standing to her right, but he didn't seem to be paying any attention to her. She scanned her surroundings, staring inside the building. What was this place? The interior was a single, large room. Around the edges of the space stood three beehive-like humps that emitted an ominous orange light, the room's only form of illumination. In the center of the room rose a hulking, irregular shape. Nydia squinted, trying to decipher what it was. The silhouette of a long, sinuous neck and huge head emerged from the shadows as she watched. She gasped, jarring her leg in a start of shock. The orange light glimmered briefly across a long, jeweled eye that turned in her direction. Her instincts told her to run, or at least roll around the other side of the wall to hide out of sight, but fear and awe froze her in place.

The dragon regarded her for a moment, then lowered its head back to the ground. Its wing fluttered as it shifted its weight, revealing a group of shadowed lumps half-buried in sand. They looked like eggs. Nydia's eyes widened. She remembered watching her brothers unearth firelizard eggs from a clutch they had found in a cave, carefully sliding the mottled lumps into padded sacks to take back to camp. One of those eggs would fit into her hand. One of the dragon eggs, however, Nydia guessed would stand as tall as her knees.

Something let out a whoosh of air behind Nydia. She turned around and choked on a scream. Another dragon stood on the path to the pasture, towering nearly as tall as the stable.

"G'lan, I'll need your help getting her up into the harness." N'hal appeared from behind the beast and jogged up to them.

"We're going to ride a dragon?" Nydia asked, stunned.

"How else did you think we'd get back to the Weyr?" N'hal asked, smiling slightly. "Walk?"

Nydia stared speechlessly at the dragon as the two men hoisted her upright and half-carried her down the path. She never should have come with Evas and Marko. For the first time in her life, she wished she had listened to her father.


	14. Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

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><p>"Where did you disappear to the other night, after the feast?" asked T'shel as they stood in a corner of the weyrling training yard, Aeneth waiting behind them. "E'mond was looking for you."<p>

Teri scrambled for a reply, her face flushing. "I felt ill, so I went back to my weyr." It wasn't a lie, not entirely. "I am sorry that I didn't get to dance with him again," she added truthfully.

"He'll survive," T'shel said. "It's a good thing you're here today. Otherwise I'd be dying of boredom listening to the care and feeding of hatchlings."

Teri grinned and readjusted the harness slung over her shoulder. She had been pleasantly surprised to be directed to T'shel, the bronzerider she had met at the Hatching feast, for her flight training. The weyrling yard was already bustling with activity. Aeneth had visualized the place for Teri when they arrived. It was a flat, dusty space bordering the weyrling barracks. An older weyrling class was practicing simple aerial banks and turns, two or three young riders and dragons in the air at once while the instructor critiqued and the rest of the class watched. The newest weyrlings were inside the barracks, sitting through lectures on the care of their dragons while the new hatchlings napped.

"I'm surprised you're not training," Teri said. "I'an's been grouching constantly about how hard your wing's being worked."

"My dragon Caranath was wounded a few days ago," T'shel replied. "I was recruited to help struggling weyrlings until his scores heal."

"Caranath!" Teri exclaimed. "I was with him in the infirmary!" She remembered the bronze dragon's wounds, some of the scores going directly through the membranes of his wings.

"I don't envy you. That overgrown lizard can whine something awful," said T'shel affectionately.

Teri smiled. "He was fine."

"Good," said T'shel. His voice assumed a serious tone. "Now enough talk. Let's get to work. Harness your dragon up."

Teri obliged eagerly, clambering up onto Aeneth's forelimb as the dragon knelt. She went through the now familiar movements of checking straps, tightening buckles, and securing loose ends. Aeneth rumbled happily as the last strap was in place.

"Sloppy," T'shel said. "Do it again."

Teri flushed. "What?"

"You're letting loose straps drag on the ground everywhere. It'll wear out your harness faster and waste good leather. Undo it and I'll help you."

Teri's fingers shook slightly as she went back over her work. She hadn't even gotten on her dragon yet and the criticism was already started. T'shel's hands guided her as she redid the buckles, adjusting her process with short, clear comments. Her mind raced as she tried to memorize everything he said.

Once T'shel was satisfied, he dropped a helmet onto Teri's head. "Now let's see you fly."

"Just like that?" Teri asked in surprise. "Don't you need to quiz me or something?"

"No. I don't care if you can quote the book verbatim. I want to see you both in the air."

Teri grinned. This was the kind of lesson she'd been waiting for. She swung herself into the harness, conscious of T'shel's gaze on her, evaluating each and every one of her movements. He didn't offer any comments on her mount, so she buckled herself in, willing her fingers to be precise.

"Just make a circuit around the Bowl, to the star stones and back," he said.

Teri nodded. _All right Aeneth,_ she said and took a steeling breath, _let's show him what we can do._ With a whoosh of air, Aeneth's wings unfolded behind Teri. She was ready for the surge upwards, taking note of Aeneth's movements beneath her. She was able to keep her head from snapping back on her neck like it had during their initial take offs. Rushing air filled Teri's ears as they ascended, Aeneth's wings beating steadily. They had practiced speeding up their visualizations so that the green was able to send one or two images per minute. Teri soaked in each piece of simulated vision; T'shel below them, shading his eyes as he craned his neck up to watch; two young blues and their riders executing a sharp turn in the air above them; the walls of the Weyr Bowl dropping around them as they rose in the air.

Teri's ears plugged up from the change in pressure, muffling all exterior sounds. For a few moments, all she could hear was the sound of her own breathing and her racing pulse. Then her ears popped and the rush of wind occupied her hearing again. Teri laughed, feeling their ascent slow in her gut.

_Now let's make our loop._

Aeneth obliged, her muscles shifting, and they shot forward. The wind in Teri's face stole the laughter from her mouth before it even reached her ears. Despite their speed, Teri could still feel the sun's warmth on the back of her neck, the bright light flooding her mind as well. Aeneth's visualizations grew faster and faster, the dragon's joy bubbling through their mental bond and mingling with Teri's. She shouted in exhilaration as they rounded the star stones, exulting finally in the freedom of flight.

They dropped back into the yard once their circuit was complete. Teri's cheeks were warm from the wind and her heart hammered, partially from the adrenaline and partially from apprehension as she waited for T'shel's evaluation.

"You've been flying on your own?" T'shel asked after a moment.

Teri nodded, half defiant and half hesitant. "And under N'hal's supervision."

T'shel snorted. "The man's a healer and a Search rider, but he certainly is not a flying instructor," he muttered to himself. "We've a lot of work, Teri. You've developed bad habits that need to be broken."

Teri's spirits sank as T'shel launched into a critique of their performance. Aeneth's takeoff was messy, her ascent uneven, her wings dragged, Teri looked like a sack of firestone on the back of a supply dragon.

"Flight is about precision and control. If you flapped around like that in Threadfall, you'd be dead within five minutes."

"If I'm ever allowed to fly Threadfall," Teri muttered to herself.

"You probably won't be," said T'shel, making Teri blush. She hadn't intended him to hear.

"I know you're blind," he continued, "but are you going to hide behind that as an excuse for shabby flight form?"

Teri raised her head in surprise. "No," she murmured.

"Good. Now let's go over your posture for takeoff." T'shel climbed up behind Teri and bodily fixed her position, pushing her shoulders forward and straightening her waist. She bit back a protest as his hands moved down to her thighs. She obeyed his touch, distributing her weight forward onto her legs rather than her rear.

"Don't let yourself get slung around whenever your dragon changes directions," T'shel continued. "Even though you can't see, you can still feel. Learn her movements and anticipate. Then you won't flop around like loose wherhide."

_He's picky,_ Aeneth grumbled.

_I know,_ Teri replied, _but it'll be worth it. I promise._

Teri and Aeneth continued to train under T'shel until late in the afternoon. T'shel alternated between watching and riding behind Teri as they flew, commenting and correcting whenever he caught a mistake or sloppy movement. His instruction sometimes stung, but he was rarely unkind. Unlike R'meri's timidity or I'an's vague comments, T'shel was direct and specific. Teri was reminded of Lena, her old pottery master at Keroon. The older woman had a tongue like a whip, but her frankness was refreshing. Under T'shel's scrutiny, Teri worked harder than she had ever before.

At the end of the day, Teri's mind was still reviewing each moment of the training as she and Aeneth returned to their weyr. Aeneth left for a swim in the lake before returning to her nest in the pottery compound while Teri took a bath. Her first full day of training was done, and she had never been so happy to get clean.

Teri toweled her hair as she padded back into the main chamber of the weyr, dressed in a clean shirt and trousers. She heard footsteps behind her and she turned her head, smiling. "You're back early, I'an."

"How did you know it was me?" the brownrider asked.

"I have ears, you know."

"Come here." I'an pulled her close and rested his chin on the top of her head. His thin shirt was damp against her cheek. He smelled of sweat, wherhide, and dragon.

"I just bathed," Teri complained, pushing away slightly.

I'an shushed her, his arms tightening around her. Teri stopped struggling with a resigned snort.

"You're from Keroon," I'an said after a moment. "Could you teach me to ride a runnerbeast?"

"I never rode one by myself. Why do you ask?"

His chest heaved as he sighed. "I'm being deployed in the Feilon militia. I report in three days."

Teri's heart lurched. She found his hand and wove her fingers through his, his sweat forgotten. "Then let's go to the infirmary to get supplies," she said brightly, despite the sinking feeling in her stomach. "You don't have a long time to get ready."

"Lead the way." I'an squeezed her fingers and followed her towards the door.


	15. Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

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><p>For the first time in two days, Nydia had the entire front room of the infirmary to herself. She sat on a hard wooden chair against the back wall, her broken ankle propped up on a stool. The healers had finally left her alone, setting her up so she could get a breath of fresh air and look out on the Weyr's activities. It wasn't much of a sight. She had spent only two days in the cursed Weyr and already she was going crazy. The bed—the first one she had ever slept in—was too soft and hurt her back, and she could never get enough fresh air to breathe. If it didn't smell like numbweed or fellis or some other stupid plant, it smelled like dragon. Nydia wrinkled her nose. She missed the smell of the forest, of cooking fires, and dirt.<p>

As soon as Nydia had arrived at the Weyr, she was pulled off N'hal's dragon and force fed foul wine laced with fellis juice. She awoke the next morning with her foot in a splint, bathed, and in a strange nightdress. She shuddered, thinking of strangers stripping her and handling her naked body. At least the pushy healers had given her back her old clothes earlier that morning. They had been washed and smelled like healer weeds, just like everything else. Nydia made a face and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Something wrong, sunshine?" Faire bustled in the doorway with her arms full of linen. Those arms were as strong as a man's. Nydia knew from experience. When she first woke up, she had tried to bolt out of the infirmary, but Faire had caught her and carried her bodily back to bed.

"Nothing," Nydia growled.

"Good." Faire's sharp eyes scrutinized her for a moment before she dumped her load on a table across the room and sat down.

Nydia slouched down in her chair. The people in this place were even worse than the smells. Iron-arm Faire constantly stared her down like she was some sort of criminal. Jana jabbered continuously about the stupidest things, like some man's eyes or hair or face. It hurt her ears. N'hal seemed to be the only decent person around. But he was the one who had dragged her to the Weyr in the first place.

A flash of gold caught her attention and a little queen firelizard swooped into the room, creeling nervously. It spotted Nydia and darted toward her, dropping onto her shoulder and wrapping its tail around her neck. Nydia started in surprise. She recognized the lizard as her father's by the notch in its right eye ridge, left from a vicious tunnel snake attack.

"Shandi," she said, uncurling the lizard's tail from around her throat. "What are you doing here?" The queen's eyes whirled blue and she bumped her little head against Nydia's cheekbone, chattering happily.

"She your lizard?" asked Faire. Nosy.

"Yes," Nydia lied. She made herself look occupied with scratching Shandi's back to discourage any more questions. How had the lizard found her? A small part of her was happy to have a reminder of home with her in the Weyr, but the rest wished the little queen had never come. She imagined the jokes everyone would say back at camp once Shandi brought back her news. Not only did numbshell Nydia get herself caught, she also landed herself in the Weyr of all places, broken and helpless. If one of the boys were caught, the rest of the band wouldn't let him rot in captivity. They would mount a raiding party or something. But she was the silly, worthless girl. No help was coming. She'd just find a way out herself. Who would laugh at numbshell Nydia then? She dislodged Shandi from her shoulder.

"Go on outside," she muttered. "I'll need you later." The queen rose indignantly into the air, squawking as she swept out of the room.

"That little queen nearly took my head off," N'hal said as he stepped into the infirmary. His features were relaxed in a slight smile.

"It's hers," said Faire curtly, gesturing to Nydia.

N'hal raised an eyebrow. "I didn't realize our guest rated a gold."

"I didn't steal her, if that's what you mean," Nydia retorted, scowling.

"Firelizards impress their owners, so they can't really be stolen," he replied, an amused smile playing around his mouth.

Nydia scowled. She knew that look. The men at camp would wear it whenever she spoke, if they weren't already ignoring her or rolling their eyes. "I'm not stupid."

"I doubt you are." N'hal hooked a stool with his foot and dragged it over to sit in front of her. "So, are you going to tell us who you are?"

Nydia shook her head, lips closed tight.

"Where's your home?" N'hal tried again.

Nydia glared at him. "Why don't you let me out so I can walk there myself?"

"Sorry. Not possible with your ankle in the condition it's in right now." He managed to sound somewhat apologetic, but she didn't believe him. It was the same tone the boys used after they pushed her around in one of their stupid games.

Nydia gave him her best withering look. She used to practice it, looking at her reflection in puddles or the flat of a knife until Gared caught her one morning and the rest of the boys never let her hear the end of it. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to have much effect on the dragonman.

"I'm not trying to pry. I just don't want your family to worry about you," he said.

To Nydia's chagrin, her eyes began to moisten at the dragonman's unexpected kindness. She blinked the wetness away, telling herself that it was just a side effect of inhaling all the healer weed fumes. She tried to make her voice sound tough, but only managed a garbled mutter. "No one's worried about me."

N'hal's mouth was pressed into a thin line as he watched her for a moment, then he stood with a sigh.

"Is N'hal here?" asked a voice from the front. The blind girl stood at the entrance to the infirmary, her cane in hand, staring vacantly into the air. Nydia shrunk against the wall, even though she knew the other girl couldn't see her. It was her dragon that Nydia had first seen in the strange building with the eggs.

"Yes, Teri. What do you need?" N'hal turned to face her.

"I'an would like to stock up on some supplies." The girl stepped into the room, followed by a sandy-haired man in his twenties. He stood a full head taller than the girl, his long limbs well toned with lean muscle. His gaze swung around the room and locked with hers, his grey eyes narrowing slightly, then widening as recognition hit him.

The blood drained from Nydia's face. She felt she had just been knocked down and sat on by one of the boys. There was just enough air left in her lungs to rasp out the man's name. "Ithan!"

His face was white as he stepped forward. It was the same as she remembered—the high forehead and grey eyes, the crooked nose that Marko had broken in a fistfight, the same thin lips that she also had, the lips they both had inherited from their father.

"Nydia," he whispered hoarsely, "is it really you?"

"You know her, I'an?" N'hal asked, his eyebrows lifted in surprise.

"She's my sister," Ithan said.

Nydia felt her face going red and her heart pounding. She clenched her fists, balanced shakily on her good leg as her brother approached. She lunged forward with a strangled cry. She had intended to pummel his face, to break his nose again and make it properly ugly, but she overbalanced and fell head-first into his chest. A button on his shirt poked her in the eye.

Ithan grunted at the impact and pulled her upright. "What are you doing here?" His eyes, glistening slightly, darted back and forth as he searched her face.

"Where have you been?" she sputtered. "I hate you!" She punched him weakly in the stomach and he let her go in surprise.

"Careful!" N'hal caught her as she wobbled. "You're going to hurt yourself."

As hard as Nydia tried, she couldn't hold back the sobs that crowded her throat. She scrubbed her eyes angrily and glared around the room. She hated for these strange weyr people to witness her weakness.

"I think that's enough excitement for one day," N'hal said, picking her up easily.

"Can I take her?" Ithan asked, his voice gruff. Nydia's protest was choked by a sob as N'hal handed her over. She squirmed, but her brother was much stronger than the boy of fifteen turns she remembered. He carried her into the back room, ignoring her feeble blows to his shoulders and neck. The fight had left her by the time he laid her in her bed. She buried her face in the pillow, overwhelmed with emotion.

He was still sitting on the edge of the bed when she was done crying. She turned her tearstained face toward him, returning his soft smile with a scowl.

"Go away, Ithan," she muttered.

"I'm I'an now," he replied. "They change your name when you become a dragonrider."

Curiosity warred with her anger. He was a dragonrider? Her eyes skimmed back over him, taking in the knots on his shoulder that indicated his occupation and rank. She forced herself to look away. "I don't want to see you."

"Not even after all these turns, Niddo?"

"Don't call me that," she snapped, bristling at his old nickname for her. "You left us." It had been five turns since he ran away. She remembered waking up cold to a dying fire, the space he normally had filled next to her just an empty patch of dirt. At nine, she had been too big to be sleeping by her brother, but she felt safest by his side. She adored him, even when he pushed her away and yelled at her to go back to camp when she followed him out to scavenge or scout. Every night when she put her blanket down beside him, he would grumble and turn away. She would wait until he was snoring to wriggle her little fingers into his and fall asleep holding his hand. Nydia balled the edge of her blanket in her fist, remembering her father's furious shouts the morning after he disappeared, and the shattering feeling of abandonment.

"I couldn't do it anymore." I'an's voice was toneless. "I'm sorry."

"You left me all alone." Nydia shot him an accusing glare. Did he think it was easy for her? That she wanted that life? She hated him for leaving, her anger doubling now that she knew he was living a better life without her.

He didn't meet her gaze. "Are you still with the band?" he asked, staring at his hands in his lap.

"I was. Now I'm stuck here," she retorted sourly.

"Do you have a way of contacting them?"

"No," she lied. She couldn't imagine what the rest of the band would do if they knew what Ithan had become.

"Your ears are red. Still a terrible liar, aren't you?"

Nydia clapped her hands over her ears. I'an smirked and tweaked her nose. She swatted at his hand. He had no right to act like he was still her brother.

"Does Dathan still have that little firelizard?" he asked.

Nydia watched him through narrowed eyes. "What are you getting at?"

"I need to talk to him."

"He'll kill you."

I'an shrugged, his face unreadable. "Maybe. I'm not a scrawny little kid anymore. I could have a fighting chance."

She withdrew warily as he scooted closer. His eyes softened into the same pleading expression he had always worn when he wanted something from her. She looked away. Hopefully, after five turns she would finally be able to resist those melting eyes.

"Please, Niddo," he said softly. "I need your help."


	16. Chapter 16

Thanks to divergary and thejadegecko for your reviews!

To answer your question, divergary, I'an's not on a dragon because he needs to be on the ground to track. I figured a brown dragon would be difficult to maneuver through trees, and the militia's runnerbeasts would be pretty flighty with a dragon in the vicinity.

Thank you for reading! Any feedback and critiques are definitely welcome. Hope you enjoy.

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><p>CHAPTER 16<p>

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><p>The pottery compound was unbearably hot, even with an autumn chill in the air outside. Teri was dressed in only a thin linen tunic and leggings and she was still sweating. The thick boots she wore were slightly too big, but they served well enough to keep her feet from burning on the hot sand. She and Aeneth had just returned from the feeding grounds. Some of the Weyr's women had taken the opportunity of the green's absence to take the eggs' measurements. Yolanda and Faire were working together to design carrying sacks lined with fur to keep the eggs safe as they were transported to the Hatching Grounds on dragonback. The move was still a few weeks away. Teri couldn't wait for the day to come. She was anxious to see the eggs hatch, wondering who they would impress. J'den hadn't bothered to send riders on Search. Candidates who had failed to impress at the previous Hatching would stand for Aeneth's clutch.<p>

"J'den said that no one would want to impress an overgrown firelizard," she had overheard N'hal grumbling to Faire in the infirmary. "The gall of that man!"

Teri leaned against the wall and folded her hands before her mouth, hoping and praying that J'den would be proved wrong.

_My eggs are not overgrown firelizards,_ said Aeneth haughtily. An image of the nine speckled eggs materialized in Teri's mind, complete with the diminutive figure of a girl leaning against the wall in the background. Wren lay curled up on the hot sand, dwarfed by the green eggs._ They are dragons._

_And dragons must have riders,_ Teri replied. She rested her chin on her hands, wishing she shared Aeneth's complete certainty.

"Did you need to go back to the Weyr, Teri?" the young rider on guard duty asked.

Teri nodded and pulled on her wherhide jacket, berating herself mentally for borrowing worries. "Yes, thank you C'rin." The crisp air sent a chill down her spine as she stepped outside.

The young rider had impressed at the same Hatching as Teri. She guessed that he was no older than she, his voice a light tenor. He was silent as he took her hand and helped her up onto his dragon.

Teri offered him a smile. "Stuck with egg guarding duty for the day?" she asked lightly.

"Better than caravan guard duty," he replied, a little gruffly. "Where do you want to be let off?"

"The infirmary," she replied automatically.

C'rin buckled himself into his harness in front of her. "I've seen you flying around the Weyr," he said suddenly. "You're training under T'shel, right?"

"Yes," Teri said. "He is very particular, but a good teacher."

C'rin grunted in agreement. "They say it's because he couldn't do anything right as a weyrling. Learned everything the hard way, so he understands when you struggle."

"So that's his secret." Teri stifled a laugh, remembering E'mond's outrageous stories of the weyrling T'shel's exploits.

"I'm sorry you couldn't train with the rest of us," said C'rin. "Me and my mates are hoping for you and the green."

Teri blinked back grateful tears. "Thank you," she said. The unexpected encouragement warmed her and buoyed her spirits.

"Hold on tight, here we go." With a rush, Teri's stomach plummeted and they were in the air.

The flight to the Weyr was short. After a few minutes, they were descending and Teri hopped off onto the floor of the Bowl. She gave C'rin a parting wave and shouted her thanks as the downdraft from his dragon's wings gusted around her. Yolanda was with Faire in the infirmary when Teri arrived. She recognized the headwoman's husky voice as she discussed the final dimensions for the egg carriers.

"Hello, Teri," Yolanda said. "How is your Aeneth?"

"She is well," Teri replied. "We have a training session with T'shel this afternoon, but she's resting with the eggs for the moment."

"I'm glad the eggs are as small as they are," said Yolanda. "It makes it easier to transport them."

"Why don't you just use a cart?" piped in Nydia's voice, to Teri's surprise. The bandit girl rarely spoke, keeping to herself in the back of the infirmary.

"Too much risk that they would get jostled around," Faire retorted. "It's also much easier to access the Hatching Ground by dragonback."

"How soon will they be moved?" Nydia asked, clunking forward on her crutches.

"Not for a couple more weeks," Teri answered warmly. If Nydia was starting to open up, Teri wanted to encourage her as much as possible.

"And you're just going to leave them out there until then?"

"They're constantly under guard," Teri said, thinking of C'rin. She wondered how the riders on duty staved off mind numbing boredom on their long shifts. "Is there anything for me to do, Faire?"

"No," the older woman replied. "You should go back to your weyr and rest before training."

Teri shrugged. "I'm not tired. I'd rather stay here." The truth was that she didn't want to spend any time in the empty weyr. I'an had been gone for three days already with the militia. Hanoth was still around—I'an hadn't taken him with the militia for the sake of the soldiers' runnerbeasts—but the brown dragon's presence only served to remind Teri of his rider's absence.

"Fine," said Faire. "Will you take that girl to the back room then? She's giving me a headache, pacing back and forth out here."

Teri suppressed a laugh as Nydia muttered something foul under her breath. There was certainly no love lost between the healer and the bandit girl.

"Come on, Nydia," Teri said. The grumbling and thunking followed her into the cool quiet of the sick room. Teri was curious about I'an's sister, especially after witnessing their strange reunion. Unlike Faire, Teri sympathized for her. The bandit girl's situation at the Weyr was nebulous at best. Because of her injury, she was welcome in the infirmary for the time being. Depending on the outcome of I'an's mission with the Feilon militia, Nydia might not have anyone to return to once she healed. Teri wondered if she knew what her brother had been asked to do.

"So, are you my brother's lover or something?" Nydia asked abruptly as the door closed behind them.

"What?" Teri asked, caught completely off guard. She was thankful that she didn't blush for once.

"I've seen how he looks at you."

"Oh." Teri's heart skipped a beat.

"Well, are you?" the other girl pressed.

"Um, I don't know," Teri replied. "Our dragons mated, so we live together. It's what happens in the Weyr."

Nydia snorted. "You seem decent. Damn it, I wish you were a bitch."

Teri raised her eyebrows. "Why is that?"

"He doesn't deserve a decent girl."

Sadness twisted Teri's heart at the other girl's harsh tone. The memory of I'an's guilt-ridden confession came to mind. "Will you ever forgive him?"

"Never!" Nydia snapped.

Teri shrugged sadly and sat on an empty bed. "So, I guess I don't meet your approval?"

"Wouldn't matter. He isn't around now anyways. Typical." Her voice grew husky with anger. The clunking of her crutches resumed again, going up and down the aisle between the beds.

"Do you know why he's gone?" Teri asked cautiously.

"To get himself killed, or my father, or both. Good riddance." Sniffles began to punctuate the relentless clunking. "I don't want to talk to you anymore," she said, her voice thick. "Go away."

"But—" Teri said, torn between compassion and consternation for the strange girl.

"I said, 'go away'!"

"Okay. I'll leave." Teri stood and left the room, Nydia's sniffles breaking into soft weeping behind her. She shut the door to give the other girl privacy. Teri sighed and rubbed her eyes, suddenly tired. Maybe she would go rest before training. She took her leave of Faire and Yolanda and set off to her weyr, the ache in her chest growing.


	17. Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

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><p>I'an stopped at the edge of the gully, signaling a halt with a raised fist to the men behind him. The trail he was following dipped down into a dry streambed covered with dead leaves. Trees lined the banks on either side. He scanned the path before him, noting the telltale marks—broken green twigs, dented undergrowth—that someone had recently passed through. The last rays of the sun filtering through the forest left dark shadows everywhere, allowing every briar, copse, and thick clump of branches to hide a watchful spy. Or fighters readying for an ambush.<p>

"Well?" Elesander, the Feilon captain, muttered in the quiet. He watched I'an closely from his mount on his runnerbeast. "Are we on the trail?"

I'an nodded, trying to puzzle out an odd feeling of disquiet. He strained his ears, hearing only the soft breathing of the men behind him, the faint rustling of clothing and chink of sheathed weapons. Nothing seemed out of place. Maybe he was uneasy because he was betraying his family. He pushed the thought away, forcing himself to focus on the trail. "Straight down the streambed," he said.

Elesander spurred his beast forward, its hoof beats muffled in the undergrowth. I'an let the captain take the lead. He forced himself to keep walking, conflicting thoughts warring in his head. It had been bad enough being ordered to assist armed men eliminate his family. Worse still was meeting his little sister in the infirmary just days before he left. Nydia had been so young the last time he saw her, coming up only to his elbow. He remembered how she would run after him through camp, tugging on his hands and chattering until he lifted her onto his back for a short ride through the forest. She had only ever looked at him with love and adoration. He winced inwardly, remembering the rage and hatred that had contorted her familiar face when she had seen him in the infirmary. He couldn't fault her for it, though.

After their reunion, I'an had convinced Nydia to contact Dathan through his firelizard. He arranged to meet with him early the morning before he had to report to Feilon. It had been tricky, leaving the Weyr and getting hold of a runnerbeast. He borrowed a beast from the Weyr stables, ostensibly to practice riding. The sun had barely cleared the top of the Weyr bowl in the east when he set out from the south supply tunnel. The little gold firelizard was difficult to spot at first, but as the light grew stronger, he was able to follow her confidently through the rocky woodlands.

She led him to a small clearing that opened onto a wall of rock on its northern side. The queen perched in the branches of a tall pine, preening herself smugly. I'an dismounted and tethered his beast to a tree, feeling the strain in his legs. He was unused to the hard seat on a runner's saddle, the beast's jolting, bumping stride. It could never compare with smooth flight on dragonwings. Unfortunately, he would have to become accustomed to this kind of riding, and quickly. Limping around with a sore rear was hardly I'an's idea of a good time. He turned to survey the clearing, all of his senses on the alert. The sun, now climbing above the treetops, filtered into the clearing through balding branches. Dried leaves rustled and crunched under I'an's boots. He didn't bother trying to muffle the noise. He knew Dathan was close by, so he might as well announce his presence.

"That's a fine beast there." A tall, muscular man stepped out from the shadows. His sun-darkened face was lined and strands of grey dusted his fair hair, but his stance and carriage bespoke the agility and fitness of a man half his age.

"It's the Weyr's, Dathan. I can't let you have it," I'an replied, standing. The hair on the back of his neck rose at the sound of his father's voice.

Dathan chuckled ruefully. "It's just not fair. I hear you've already got a dragon, but you'll still keep this runner to yourself."

"I'm an honest man, so I get honest wages." I'an kept his tone light, to match his father's, but he was watching the other man as closely as he knew he was being watched.

"I never thought my son would be such an upstanding citizen. You put me to shame." Dathan stepped forward, holding out his hand. "It's good to see you, Ithan."

With a guarded smile, I'an clasped his father's hand and allowed himself to be pulled into an embrace. Memories of childhood rushed into his mind as he breathed in his father's familiar smell, not all of them happy. He pulled away after a moment, surprised to be at Dathan's eye level. Also shocking were the dark age spots that dusted his father's weathered skin and the sagging flesh around his eyes and jaw. Dathan's smile was still the same, however, the smile that I'an had inherited.

"Thanks for meeting me," I'an said as warmly as he could.

Dathan's hand continued to rest on I'an's shoulder. "It's been so long. I almost didn't believe it when my lizard came to me, chattering some nonsense about my children in the Weyr." His gaze focused on the knots embroidered into I'an's jacket and his smile waned. "So you're a dragonman now. I guess if you're going to abandon your family, it might as well be for a dragon."

I'an winced, recognizing the hard set of Dathan's grey eyes above his smiling mouth. He ignored the barb, knowing all too well what would happen if he rose to the bait.

"So, what was this urgent business you needed to see me about?" Dathan asked, crossing his still muscular arms across his chest.

I'an drew in a slow breath, hoping for the right words. "I'm here to warn you. Your attacks have become too frequent and too daring. The Holds are coming together to mount an offensive against you. The band needs to back off, disappear for a while until things cool down."

Dathan's smile disappeared, his features hardening into an all too familiar iron expression. "Times are hard for us who don't live in the lap of luxury."

I'an unlooped a small sack from his belt and tossed it to his father. Its contents clacked together as Dathan caught it.

"What is this?" Dathan opened the sack and pulled out a handful of marks.

"It's for you."

"More of your wages?"

"It's not much, but you could try paying for things instead of stealing them."

Dathan chuckled mirthlessly and pocketed the marks. "Your morality's noble, but it won't fill hungry bellies."

"You can't keep going on like this, either."

"Ithan, me and my men have been living this way since before you were born."

"You didn't have as many enemies back then. The Weyrleaders aren't happy either. You've been attacking tithe trains."

"You look fairly well-fed."

I'an raked his fingers through his hair. "That's not the point. The Weyr and the Holds are cooperating to take you down. It won't end well for you or the rest of the band."

"When did you start caring?" Dathan asked coolly. "The last thing I remember was you thinking you were too good for us."

I'an balled his hands into fists. Dathan's walls were going up and he had to stop them. "Look," he said desperately, "I'm not sorry that I ran away, but I still care about you. You're my father, and the band's my family. Blood is thicker than water."

Dathan shrugged. "So is shit."

"Dathan. Father. I don't want to have to choose between you and my duty to the Weyr. Please, just listen to me and back off on the attacks."

Dathan was silent for a moment, watching I'an from half-lidded eyes. "Your Weyrleaders ask you to talk to me? Make some kind of deal?"

I'an snorted softly. "No. They asked me to track you, to help the Holds' militia get rid of you."

"And you're their man? You'll do what they ask?"

"What can I do, Dathan? Please don't put me in that position."

"If you don't know right now, then you've been bought." Dathan shook his head and stepped backwards into the trees. "Let's see if your soft new life has made you forget everything that I taught you."

"Dathan, wait. Don't do this!"

He was already gone. I'an groaned and held his head in his hands. Even after turns, it was still the same. As a boy, he had never been able to gain ground in a conversation with his father. He thought he had changed so much—grown a head taller, worked his way into acceptance in the Weyr, impressed a dragon—but he felt like the same fifteen-year-old boy he had been the last time they spoke. He should have known that talking wouldn't accomplish anything. He rode back to the Weyr, feeling hopeless. The next day, I'an had reported to the militia.

A branch snapping brought I'an back to the present. He winced as the Feilon men trampled loudly through the dry streambed. The past three days with the militia had frayed his woodsman's instincts to a slim thread. The men were good soldiers, but they couldn't walk through a field without scaring deaf squirrels away. I'an caught up to Elesander at the front of the line, unable to handle the noise any longer. The captain was watching the trees around them carefully. I'an turned his attention to the ground. They were still on the trail. He and the militia had been tracking for the past three days and had yet to find anything. The strategy was to find and follow bandit trails through the forest back to their camp. Then they could strike and take the men prisoner. I'an was secretly relieved that nothing had happened. He hoped fervently that they wouldn't encounter any of Dathan's men. If a skirmish broke out, he didn't know what he would do.

I'an spotted the patch of undergrowth that didn't seem to match with the rest of the streambed a moment too late. The detail registered in his mind just as the ground opened beneath his feet. He hit the bottom of the hidden pit hard, Elesander's runner plunging in after him. I'an scrambled out of the way as the beast flailed, screaming. The captain swore, one leg trapped under the runner's heaving flank. The pit was deeper than I'an was tall by an armlength. Shouts came from above, punctuated by the hiss and thud of arrows finding their marks.

"An ambush!" Elesander growled.

I'an's heart sank, his hopes of never encountering the bandits dashed.

"Help me, damn it!" the captain said, struggling to free himself. "The runner's leg is broken."

I'an knelt at his side and wedged his shoulder against the runner's back, pushing it forward just enough for Elesander to slide his leg out. The captain grunted his thanks and pulled himself out of the pit, I'an close behind him. The rest of the men were clumped behind what cover they could find, exchanging arrows with hidden archers in the trees on the western bank, with the sun behind them. Four men lay sprawled in the open, shafts protruding from their still bodies. I'an and Elesander scrambled behind a thick briar, drawing their weapons.

"Crossbows!" Elesander bellowed. "Give us cover! We'll run them out of their hiding spots!"

The crossbowmen loaded bolts into their weapons and sent a volley rattling through the branches. I'an spotted three shadows dropping from the trees. He leaped over the briar and sprinted after them, followed closely by Elesander's men. The bandits split, slipping away in opposite directions. Feilon's men sent crossbow bolts hissing after them, but none hit their marks, thudding into tree trunks or sailing into the brush. I'an slowed, panting. He knew there was no catching the bandits now. The militia continued crashing after them heedlessly. I'an turned back towards the streambed, but a rustling in the brush to his left stopped him. He stepped forward, pushing a clump of branches aside. With a shrill yell, a boy flung himself out at him, brandishing a dagger. I'an caught his skinny wrist, wresting the knife away easily. As he glared into the boy's face, his gut lurched in recognition.

"Gared!" he hissed, pushing him back down into the bushes. "It's me, Ithan!" Was Dathan using children to fight now? Gared had been a little boy of eight the last time I'an remembered seeing him.

"Ithan?" Gared's blue eyes widened. "What are you doing here?" He sat in the dirt, bleeding from a gash in his thigh. An empty quiver and a bow were strung across his back.

"Saving your skin." I'an took a quick glance around. None of the Feilon men were close by. "Stay down and hide until we're gone."

"I'an!" Elesander shouted from a stand of trees a few dragonlengths away. "Find anything?"

"Are you with them?" Gared asked accusingly, snatching up his dagger from where I'an had tossed it on the ground.

"Shut up and stay down!" I'an whispered, jabbing a finger into the boy's thin chest. He stood upright and called out, "No, captain. They've got away."

Elesander swore and sheathed his sword. "Gather the men. We'll regroup at the streambed and make camp."

I'an nodded and loped after the militia, glancing back every few steps. Gared's clump of bushes stayed satisfactorily still. I'an sighed, hoping the boy wouldn't do anything stupid. The captain's order was echoed through the trees and men slowly filtered back towards the streambed. A couple of the crossbowmen stooped to gather wasted bolts as they came.

Five men were injured, four killed in the ambush. Seventeen were left able-bodied. They met up with their runnerbeasts and supplies at the streambed and set up camp. A tall man named Urich with healer training went to work on the wounded, mixing fellis and snapping the arrow shafts that protruded from shoulders and legs.

I'an knelt by a clear stream that ran close by their camp, washing his hands in the frigid water. Gared's pale face flickered into his thoughts. He sighed and wiped his face. Nydia, Dathan, Gared. How was he supposed to take sides against the people he'd known since childhood?

One of the Feilon men knelt beside him to splash water on his sweaty face. He was a square shaped man with a wide chest, wide jaw, blocky forehead, and crudely shaped hands that he cupped to hold the stream water. He drank in long slurps, then wiped his mouth on his sleeve and turned his coal black eyes to I'an.

"So you're the bandit expert, eh? Dragonman too. So, what the hell were you doing out there?"

I'an rinsed his hands slowly. "We were ambushed."

The man's eyes glittered dangerously. "That's not what I'm talking about. I saw you let that boy go. Whose side are you on?"

I'an cringed inwardly. Apparently he hadn't been as observant as he had thought. He met the man's gaze, knowing how tenuous the protection from his brownrider's knots was. Dragonrider or not, he had helped a bandit. "He was just a boy," he said quietly, "little more than a child."

Black eyes bored into grey for a long moment before the man grunted and stood. "Let's hope the rest of these bandits aren't children as well."

I'an slowly let out the breath he had been holding as the man strode back to camp. His hands still trembled slightly as he cupped them together to drink from the stream. Whose side was he on? I'an dried his hands on his trousers and stood, Dathan's words echoing in his mind. If he didn't know now, he had been bought. I'an doubted it was that simple. He sighed and followed the square man's footprints back to camp. Nothing in his life was simple anymore.


	18. Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

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><p>J'den stood with Aliana at the entrance to the weyrling training yard. The newest weyrlings were arranged in ranks in the yard, oiling their dragons' swiftly growing hides. O'shon, the Weyrlingmaster, was covered in oil up to his elbows as he grappled with an uncooperative brown. The little dragon squealed in distress, his tail smacking solidly into his rider's gut. The boy doubled over and gasped for air. The rest of the weyrlings stifled their giggles and stole nervous glances at the Weyrleaders. J'den ignored them, his attention fixed on the green and her rider executing a tight spiral in the air, high above the scuffle in the yard.<p>

J'den and Aliana had arrived at the training yard in time to catch the beginning of Teri's training sesson. T'shel had started at the sight of the Weyrleaders, but J'den motioned him to silence. He wanted to see what the green and her rider could do. Oblivious to their presence, the blind girl mounted her dragon, her movements confident and smooth. T'shel gave them brief directions and then they were off. The green crouched down and launched into the air. In between the rise and fall of Aeneth's wings, J'den caught glimpses of Teri. Her face was set in concentration, her riding form solid. The pair moved together fluidly, as if they were one body. Their ascent slowed as they reached a safe height, near the third tier of private weyrs. Aeneth dropped her left wing, gliding smoothly into the first moves of the drill.

"They look good, don't they?" Aliana asked, grinning up at J'den.

"T'shel's a good teacher," J'den replied. He shaded his eyes to watch the pair as they followed the drill.

"He is, but they were good before they trained with him. I saw them fly before Aeneth laid her clutch."

"They've really caught your fancy, haven't they?" J'den muttered grudgingly. Aliana had been a central figure in loosening Teri's flight ban. She had latched onto N'hal and Faire's petition to let them fly for Aeneth's health, arguing for them until J'den finally conceded. She was also responsible for having T'shel train Teri during his dragon's convalescence.

"I feel for them," Aliana said. "I can't help but admire Teri. Considering her circumstances, she's accomplished quite a lot."

J'den pursed his lips and grunted noncommittally. Secretly, he had to agree. When Teri had ended up impressing, he had been furious. It contradicted nearly every belief and understanding he had held concerning dragons. A blind girl couldn't ride a dragon. Yet Teri had done it. J'den watched them pull out of a neat turn. He had to admit the girl had pluck. No matter what restrictions he put up, she was determined to fly.

"I think she needs to be taught to go _between,_" Aliana said.

"What?" J'den stared incredulously at the Weyrwoman, sure she must be joking. "That's crazy."

"It'd be better than continuing to ban her."

"It'd be putting fire in the hands of an infant," J'den retorted.

"She'll be safer if she's taught how to do it correctly," Aliana pressed. "You know how young riders are. I wouldn't be surprised if she tried it on her own."

"You think she'd survive the teaching process?"

"T'shel is meticulous. He'll make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."

J'den shook his head in disbelief. "You really think they can go _between_?"

"Look at them!" Aliana gestured upwards. "You thought they would never fly, and there they are."

J'den sighed ruefully. "I guess I'm running out of excuses." He tugged a handful of her blonde hair. "If anything happens to them, it's on you."

"Stop that," she scolded. "You're the Weyrleader, not a little brat."

J'den grinned as she continued to scowl at him. "T'shel," he called. "I'd like to speak with you."

* * *

><p>Aeneth touched down neatly in the weyrling training yard, her muscles going still. Teri sat back, relaxing out of her riding form.<p>

"So, T'shel, how did we look?" she asked, breathless. He had run her through a drill to practice banking and sharp aerial turns. With Aeneth's quick visualizations, Teri had managed to stay oriented throughout most of the exercise. She had gotten confused and dizzy a few times, but new images helped her stay on track.

T'shel was smiling in the image Aeneth sent her, his tan skin creasing around his brown eyes. "The Weyrleaders were just here," he said. "Aliana was pleased with your progress."

Teri's heart skipped a beat. "And J'den?" she asked anxiously.

"He says you're flying well. They think you're ready to start learning how to go _between_."

Teri gasped. She held trembling fingers to her mouth. "I can't believe it! How did you convince J'den? He's been set against me flying ever since I impressed!"

"I didn't say anything. You two did all the convincing."

Teri flung herself forward, wrapping her arms around Aeneth's neck. _Did you hear that? We're going to go _between_!_

"Thank you T'shel!" she added out loud. "I owe you everything."

"No, you already knew how to fly by the time you came to me. I've just been cleaning up your form."

"When do we start?" Teri asked eagerly.

The rest of the lesson passed in a blur. Teri could barely concentrate for excitement, all the visualizations she had memorized scrolling through her mind. Once they went _between,_ she would be one step closer to being full a dragonrider.

R'meri was waiting for her when the lesson finished. She was unharnessing Aeneth when he called her name.

"R'meri!" she replied, dropping a buckle in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you." He exhaled. "It's been a while."

Teri nodded, unexpectedly glad to hear his voice. She had missed him more than she realized.

"I'm sorry I've been avoiding you," he began. "I was wrong to doubt your abilities. I've seen you flying and you're just as capable as anyone." He spoke all in one breath, inhaling deeply when he was done.

It took a moment for his words to sink in. "I'm sorry as well," she replied. "I treated you badly."

"It was my fault," he objected. "Will you forgive me?"

Teri smiled shyly and nodded.

R'meri's hand squeezed hers gratefully. She pulled him closer and flung her arms around him.

"Oof," he grunted. "You're a lot stronger than you look."

"Sorry," she said, stifling a giggle.

"I heard about I'an," he said slowly as they separated. "I guess I was wrong about him too. Is he gone already?"

She nodded. "He left four days ago."

"Have you heard anything from him?"

"No." Teri bit her lip. She thought of Nydia and sighed. After their last conversation, I'an's sister had clammed up even tighter than before. She had withdrawn to the back room of the infirmary, only keeping company with her gold firelizard.

"You really care about him, don't you?" R'meri asked quietly.

"Yes, I do," she replied. R'meri sighed so dejectedly that she raised her head in surprise. "Are you jealous of him?"

"No!" R'meri exclaimed. "Not really." He let out his breath. "Maybe a little. More so when I thought he was an amoral bandit who was going to hurt you terribly. Now that I know he's a decent person, I think I can live with it."

Teri smiled softly, remembering the feelings she used to have for him. "You're still a dear friend to me," she said, holding out her hand to him.

"And you to me." He took her hand with both of his. "So," he said after a moment, "I've missed everything that's happened in the last three months. You've been flying, laying eggs. Tell me everything."

She laughed. "Right now? I have to get Aeneth unharnessed and back to her clutch."

"I'll just have to come with you," he said resolutely.

She grinned and held out a buckle to him. "Make yourself useful then, because it's a long story."


	19. Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

* * *

><p>I'an ducked into the captain's low tent. The interior was dimly lit and stuffy. A neatly folded cot was propped in one corner beside a simple leather trunk. Elesander stood over a folding table, engrossed in papers laid across its surface.<p>

I'an cleared his throat. "You wanted to see me, captain?"

Elesander looked up. "Yes, thank you I'an." He straightened a sheaf of papers together into a loose stack and stared straight into I'an's face. "It's about your personal history."

I'an forced his features into a blank expression. "Yes?"

"There has been a question expressed about your loyalties. As you are a newcomer, I can understand the men's concerns."

I'an waited silently for the captain to continue, fighting the instinct to flee the tent.

"You used to be a bandit, correct?" Elesander asked, his expression unreadable.

"Yes."

"And you are committed to this mission to track down the bandit gang?"

"Yes." I'an cringed mentally as he spoke. He had never been at ease with telling a lie.

"I understand that the Weyr is your home, but while you are on this mission, you are loyal to Feilon. You are under my command. Is that clear?"

"Yes."

Elesander regarded I'an for a moment before nodding, apparently satisfied. "Very well," he said as he returned to his papers. "You may go."

I'an stepped outside, taking gulps of the cool air. His throat felt clogged from the stuffy air in the tent. Outside, the camp was busy with activity, men cleaning their gear and packing up. He turned sharply to avoid walking past a knot of chatting swordsmen, looking down at the ground instead of into their faces. A question about his loyalties. Two images jangled harshly in his mind: the expectation reflected in Elesander's hard eyes, and the look of desperation on Gared's thin face. If he hadn't been such a coward, he wouldn't be stuck in this mess.

Turning his back on the noise and activity of camp, I'an trudged into the trees. He needed privacy, a quiet place to think. The morning sun wasn't yet strong enough to take the chill from the air. He shrugged his wherhide jacket closer and ducked under a branch. The woods were calming and still, his attention on his feet as he trekked through the underbrush. He missed this, the freedom to wander through the trees, far from the confinement of stone walls—when the threat of Thread wasn't hanging over his head, of course. He pondered leaving, to keep walking until the militia camp was a distant memory. It was the coward's move, a path he was very familiar with.

A flash of gold caught the corner of his eye. I'an froze and scanned the trees around him. A low whistle sounded to his left and he turned in time to see a shadowed figure step behind a gnarled trunk.

"Dathan?" I'an asked cautiously.

The figure whistled again and moved off into the trees, farther away from camp. I'an hesitated for a moment. He guessed it was Dathan, catching a glimpse of a gold firelizard perched on the figure's shoulder. I'an followed warily. If Dathan wanted to hurt him, he would have done it long ago. The other man didn't turn around. He kept a steady pace through the trees, leading I'an finally to a small clearing at the base of a sandstone outcropping.

"What do you want, Dathan?" I'an asked, watching the trees in his peripheral vision.

Dathan sat on a sandstone slab and began to draw in the dirt with a stick. "Been having fun out there, son?"

I'an crossed his arms over his chest. "No. Thanks to you, it's been pretty awful."

Dathan chuckled. "I remember you saying that things wouldn't end well for us. Doesn't look that way now, does it?"

"What do you want?" I'an repeated. He was in no mood to play his father's games.

Dathan continued as if he hadn't heard. "I realize you meant well, even if you were completely wrong. It was good of you to try to warn me, so I guess I'll return the favor."

I'an's gaze flicked around the clearing. "And?" he pressed.

"I'm offering you a deal," Dathan said, sketching a big loop around a clump of little circles he had drawn. "Work with us, and we won't hurt you, even though you started on their side. I'd like your help with a job."

"What kind of job?" I'an asked warily.

Dathan inspected the end of his stick. "What do you know about dragon eggs?"

I'an's hackles rose. He stared at the drawing in the dust. Nine circles. Aeneth's clutch.

"Dathan, are you crazy? You can't steal those eggs!"

Dathan tossed the stick aside and smiled menacingly. "We can and we will."

I'an gritted his teeth and glared back. "I won't let you."

Dathan stood with a sigh, dusting off his pants. "I was afraid you'd say that."

Something moved in I'an's periphery, but he reacted too slowly to dodge the blow. The impact exploded across the side of his head, blackening his vision for a moment. He was struck again in the gut, his lungs emptying of oxygen. When the darkness receded slightly, he found himself on the ground, dizzy.

"Careful, Marko," said Dathan's voice past the ringing in I'an's ears. "We don't want to kill him. The entire Weyr will know if he dies."

"What are you doing?" I'an slurred, struggling to stay conscious. His fingers came away from his head slick with blood that looked nearly black in his faltering vision.

Dathan stood over him, his face impassive. "You made your choice. I'm making sure you hold to it."

I'an's eyes slid shut and darkness descended on his pain-fogged mind.

"Strip him," said Dathan's voice, sounding oddly muffled.

Rough hands rolled him onto his back and yanked off his wherhide. One last coherent thought flickered through I'an's mind before he slipped into unconsciousness. Teri was in trouble.

* * *

><p>C'rin sat indolently back against the wall of the pottery compound. He tossed a rock from hand to hand. He had drawn egg guard duty twice in one week. That was plain unlucky. He checked the position of the sun and groaned. Just after midday. He wasn't going to be relieved until sundown. What would he do for six more hours? Aeneth and Teri weren't even inside; they were training with T'shel. He had only the eggs to keep him company.<p>

Hoofbeats came thundering up the path. C'rin scrambled to his feet and threw the rock aside. He wasn't about to be caught lolling around on watch. The rider was a man in wherhide—a brownrider from his knots—but C'rin didn't recognize him from the Weyr.

"Who are you and what's your business?" C'rin asked warily.

The stranger smiled and rolled his eyes. "Relax. I'm your replacement for guard duty."

"But I'm not supposed to be relieved until tonight," C'rin said, confused.

"I was asked to trade with you so you could get back to drills. My dragon's recovering from injuries, you see. I have nothing better to do."

C'rin brightened. A dull guard shift cut short? Maybe he wasn't as unlucky as he had thought. "All right," he said. "Do you know how this works?"

The brownrider waved him away. "How hard can it be? Those eggs aren't going anywhere. Go on, I'm sure you've been dying to get out of here."

"Thank you, thank you very much!" C'rin called as he ran around the side of the building to where his dragon was waiting.

* * *

><p>Once the guard boy had gone, astride his dragon, Evas waved towards the woods beyond the stable. He flipped up the collar on I'an's wherhide jacket to block the chilly wind and watched the eight other members of the band slip furtively from their hiding places in the trees.<p>

"Well done," Dathan said as he strode up the path toward the squat building. He handed Evas a thick sack and clapped him on the shoulder.

"That fool rider ate up everything I said," Evas sneered. "It's almost too easy."

"Don't celebrate yet," Dathan replied. "We still have most of the job to do."

The heat hit Evas like a slap in the face as they stepped into the pottery compound. Someone could easily be baked alive in there. He grimaced and let his jacket hang open. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust before he saw them. The eggs sat in a perfect half-circle, illuminated by sunlight streaming in through the open door. They were just waiting to be taken. Evas smiled. It was far too easy.

A shrill shriek rent the air as a tiny bronze streak dove at their heads. Evas got a claw across his forehead before he could duck, little wings beating around his ears. He swore, batting at the air, but the firelizard was gone already, diving at Marko's face and squealing.

"Get rid of it," Dathan growled, "before someone hears."

Dvoram loaded his crossbow and shot in one smooth motion. The bolt hit the lizard square in its belly, mid-shriek. It thudded to the ground, wings crumpled.

"Let's get the eggs and get out of here."

The eight men followed Dathan as he stepped over the broken body of the firelizard, carrying sacks at the ready.


	20. Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

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><p>The air in the weyrling training yard was cool, even though it was already midday. Teri sat astride Aeneth, holding onto her riding straps as if her life depended on it, even though they were still on the ground. They were going <em>between<em>. Teri's stomach flipped from anxiety to anticipation and back. She wished Aren could be there to see her. He would have been so proud.

"Ready?" asked T'shel.

Teri nodded and breathed in deeply.

"Relaying visualization now."

Teri closed her eyes. The image slowly came into focus in her mind. It was of the Weyr from about halfway up the Bowl, level with the fourth tier of private weyrs. The Red Star winked faintly near the star stones, barely visible above the top of the Bowl walls. Its shine was washed out in the bright daylight.

"Focus on the image," T'shel said. "Be accurate with all the details. You're not going far, just a couple dragonlengths upwards."

Teri held the visualization in her mind, sharing it with Aeneth.

"Whenever you're ready," T'shel said.

Teri's was heart pounding and her hands were clammy with sweat. "For Aren," she whispered.

Aeneth rumbled deep in her throat. Her consciousness was steady and undoubting, a calming lifeline amid her rider's agitation.

Teri took a deep breath to steady herself. _Let's do it._ She focused on the image and willed themselves there.

For a moment, nothing happened. Teri briefly began to wonder what went wrong when suddenly all sensation was sucked away. Everything was still black, as it always was, but the silence was so oppressive that Teri feared wildly that she had lost her hearing. She wanted to claw at her ears and pull away whatever had plugged them. The cold pierced through her bones, numbing her so that she no longer could feel Aeneth beneath her. Teri willed herself to keep the image of their destination in her mind, fighting the rising panic. She had forgotten to count, the frozen, silent numbness seeming to stretch for minutes.

As a scream began to rise in her throat, the numbness lifted and she could feel again—the straps hugging her body, the movement of Aeneth's muscles, the comparably warm air in her face. Her ears filled with the roar of Aeneth's wingbeats and the scream in her throat transformed into a relieved shout.

_Aeneth, where are we?_

The dragon-supplied image was identical to T'shel's original visualization. They were looking into the fourth level of weyrs, the top of the Weyr Bowl still high above them.

Teri pumped her fist in the air and crowed in triumph. Her blood raced through her, every sensation magnified. _We did it, Aeneth! We went _between_!_

_Of course we did,_ Aeneth replied primly. _I knew we could do it._

_I'm so proud of you. Let's go back down so we can hear from T'shel._

Aeneth obliged with a quick flick of her wings, her mind exuding proud self-satisfaction.

"Excellent," T'shel shouted as they touched down again in the training yard. His voice was throaty with excitement. "How did it feel?"

Teri grinned. "Incredible!"

"Good. Now do it again, to the same spot."

Teri recalled the visualization, her nerves gone. They repeated the jump several more times, T'shel checking the accuracy of her images before each one. Once T'shel was satisfied, he sent them to other destinations around the Bowl—above the lake, over the Hatching Grounds. With each jump, Teri grew more and more confident. The empty blackness of _between_ no longer unsettled her.

Teri and Aeneth were emerging from _between_ by the star stones when the grief hit. Teri fell forward onto Aeneth's neck, shaking and disoriented. It was as if a corner of her consciousness had been destroyed, leaving a blank void where there had once been a conduit of emotion and sensation. Anguish seized her lungs, squeezing the air from them until they burned.

"Wren!" she gasped past a lump forming in her throat. She couldn't sense the firelizard anymore. He was gone. What had happened to him? She forced her stunned mind into action. Where could he have been? She ran through her memories of the past weeks. The lizard had usually lounged in the pottery compound, enjoying the heat.

The pottery compound.

_Aeneth, your eggs!_ Teri gasped. An image of the squat brick building beside the stables sprang to her mind. She seized it, focusing on every detail. Before she realized what she had done, the cold silence descended and they were _between._

_Black…blacker…blackest…_

The wind was a scream in Teri's ears as they emerged. She clapped trembling hands to her face, shaken. They had gone _between_ on their own, using one of their own visualization markers, and arrived safely.

Aeneth's bellow, nearly deafening her, cut off her self-congratulatory thoughts. Without warning, they dropped through the air. Teri was caught off guard, her insides lurching painfully. The wind stung her eyes. She scrabbled for her riding straps, finally getting hold of them after what felt like a lifetime of falling.

_Aeneth! What's happening?_

The green's rage boiled through Teri's mind, incoherent, raw, and violent.

_Stop, please!_ she pleaded. Her cries were swept away like leaves in a maelstrom.

Their descent stopped abruptly. Teri's head whipped forward, jerking her neck with an unpleasant crunch. She cried out, the pain hauling her back to herself for a brief moment.

_My eggs!_ Aeneth howled.

Vision flooded Teri's mind. She clung desperately to her own consciousness under the onslaught of sensation. The doors to the pottery compound below them were open wide. Nine men sprinted out of the building towards the trees. They clutched round, unwieldy bundles in their arms.

_They're stealing the eggs! _Teri exclaimed. _We have to inform the Weyr!_

_Done,_ Aeneth replied darkly. _Now we must stop them!_ She folded her wings and dove. They landed thunderously on the path, blocking the bandits' escape to the trees. Three of them had already made it to the cover of the forest, leaving six staggering back from Aeneth's threatening bulk. She stepped forward and roared. Her wings beat wind and dust into the men's faces. One of them lost his nerve. He discarded his bundle and cut right, aiming to dodge around Aeneth's flank. Her forelimb shot out and swatted him back. He dropped like a stone.

The remaining men pulled crossbows from their backs and swiftly loaded the weapons. Teri gasped as bolts shot towards them. One zipped past, but three found their marks, burying themselves in Aeneth's neck and shoulder. The green reared back on her haunches, roaring in pain. Their shared vision fizzled out and Teri was plunged into darkness again.

"Aim for the rider!" one of the men shouted. "Kill her and the dragon will be nothing!"

Teri flattened herself against Aeneth, her heart hammering in fear. The blackness around her seemed suffocating. Something rammed into her left shoulder, knocking her sideways. She screamed in pain. Her hand flew to her shoulder, warm blood leaking over her fingers as they closed around the thick shaft protruding from her flesh.

_We need to get out of here, Aeneth!_ she cried. She gritted her teeth and gasped for breath as waves of pain cascaded through her upper body.

_But the eggs!_ the dragon wailed. She roared again as a bolt meant for Teri shot into her neck.

_They'll kill us both!_ Teri huddled against Aeneth. She held her injured shoulder and begged the dragon to fly. "Help us!"

A sudden downdraft buffeted Teri from above, nearly flattening her. Dragon voices bugled overhead.

_Riders are here!_ Aeneth exclaimed. She visualized the scene for Teri. Two browns, a green, and a bronze descended onto the path, surrounding the bandits. Three men were astride each dragon, all armed. The bandits below them let out a series of desperate curses. Their crossbows clicked and twanged, but no more bolts shot toward Aeneth and Teri.

"Put down your weapons!" bellowed a male baritone. Teri recognized E'mond's voice even though it was distorted with fury. She choked back a sob of relief. They were saved.

* * *

><p>Evas threw down his crossbow. He had wasted the last of his bolts on a wild shot that disappeared into the trees. Dragons surrounded them, their passengers leaping down with weapons in hand. Eight crossbows were trained on them, bolts clicking into place. He swore, his hands shaking as the dragons loomed over them, their powerful muscles shifting beneath their hides. Sunlight glistened off rows of gleaming teeth and claws twice as long as his dagger. He glanced quickly to Birion's prone form. Just one blow from the green dragon had wiped him out. Facing a single dragon and rider was one thing, but five of the beasts and three times as many men? The bronze dragon was itself as big as two greens combined. Evas licked his dry lips, his heart nearly leaping out of his chest.<p>

"This is it," said Marko, his voice quaking. He dropped his weapons and set his egg on the ground. He choked back a whimper, holding his hands over his head. "We're dead. We should never have come."

"Stow your wailing," Dathan growled. His narrowed eyes flicked around at the wall of dragons and their riders. "This isn't over. We still have their precious eggs."

Evas pulled his dagger from its sheath. How far did Dathan want to take this? They had faced armed guards and crossbowmen before, but never dragons. Evas wondered nervously how a dragon killed its prey. Did it end it in a single strike, or play with it, like a cat torturing a mouse? He wasn't willing to risk dismemberment for a speckled lump, dragon egg or not.

"I told you to drop your weapons!" the man on the bronze dragon repeated. "If you do not surrender now, you will be shot!" The bronze stamped a giant foreleg into the ground for emphasis, claws piercing the earth.

"Surrender only to dangle at the end of your hangman's rope?" Dathan shouted. "Not likely!"

Evas dropped his dagger. Hanging sounded much more appealing than death at a dragon's claws. He lowered his egg carrying sack to the ground and raised his hands in the air.

"What are you doing?" Dathan hissed, his face livid. His eyes widened as Dvoram and Hennel followed suit, dropping their weapons and surrendering.

"Sorry Dathan," Evas said, "I'm not going against those dragons for this."

"Fine," Dathan snarled. "Enjoy your coward's execution. I'll see you in hell." He turned back to the dragonmen and hoisted his egg up in front of his chest. "Shoot and your precious egg will be destroyed!" he shouted, holding his knife poised above the mottled shell.

Evas shouted his warning too late. The bolt struck Dathan in his left temple, snapping his head to the side with a sickening crack. He crumpled to the ground, the egg rolling from his limp hands.

Evas groaned and squeezed his eyes shut. Dathan was gone. Birion, most likely dead. Marko, Dvoram, Hennel, Gael, and himself taken prisoner. The band was finished. The dragonmen approached with their weapons raised. At their orders, Evas sat with the four other survivors. He held his head in his hands and tried not to think of what was to come.

"Notify the Lord of Feilon," A tall dragonman commanded, his crossbow aimed at Evas' chest. "We have the bandits."

* * *

><p>"Teri!" Teri heard the familiar yell as T'shel was helping her down from Aeneth onto the floor of the Weyr Bowl. They had jumped <em>between<em> back to the Weyr as soon as the bandits had surrendered.

"R'meri?" she shouted, her uninjured arm wrapped around T'shel's shoulders. "Is that you?"

"Teri!" R'meri cried hoarsely. Footsteps pounded up to them. "You're hurt!"

"Careful," T'shel warned. "We need to get her to the infirmary. Aeneth as well." He scooped her up in his arms.

"Put me down," Teri protested. "My legs are fine."

"You went _between _on your own?" R'meri asked, incredulous.

"Yes, they did," T'shel grumbled. "I thought they were dead. They were in the air above me one moment, gone the next. I was sure that you had been lost _between_, but none of the dragons started keening."

Teri gripped the bronzerider's shoulder. "I'm sorry, T'shel. I'll never do it again."

"What are you talking about, Teri? You can fly, you went _between._ You're a real dragonrider now!" R'meri exclaimed.

She raised her head and smiled despite the pain in her arm. "You know R'meri, I think I've been one for a long time."


	21. Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

* * *

><p>A stone ceiling floated slowly into focus above I'an as he awoke. He groaned. His head swam, his vision shifting nauseatingly between fuzziness and clarity. Slowly, he recognized the interior of the Weyr infirmary, beds lining the wall opposite, the room lit dimly by glowbaskets hung in the corners. Someone was sitting at his bedside, a dark head resting on a thin arm.<p>

"Teri," I'an croaked, breathing a sigh of relief. She was safe.

Her head shot upright, bouncing into multiples in his shaky vision. A smile wiped away the anxiety that dragged on her features. "I'an," she breathed. "You're awake."

White bandages peeked out from under the neckline of Teri's loose tunic. He squinted in an attempt to focus his jittery eyes. Her left arm was wrapped in a sling, bent at the elbow and immobilized against the bottom of her ribs.

"You're hurt," he muttered. "Dathan! The eggs—"

"Are safe," Teri finished for him. "Dathan's men tried to steal them, but they were stopped." Teri quickly related what had happened, describing her and Aeneth's injuries, the dragonriders' arrival, the bandits' surrender, and the search for and capture of the three men who had gotten away. "They're being held in Feilon to await their punishment."

"And Dathan?" I'an whispered.

Teri's shoulders sank. "He was killed during the struggle. I'm sorry, I'an."

I'an blinked back the moisture blurring his eyes. His vision was bad enough without being obscured by tears. "I guess justice was served," he said gruffly.

"He was your father."

"That didn't make him a good man."

Teri didn't answer. Her face was lowered, her right hand playing with the hem of her tunic. The fingers on her left hand hung limply from the open end of the sling.

"Teri, I'm so sorry," he whispered.

"Why are you apologizing?" she asked in surprise. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Your arm, Aeneth, the eggs. It's what I've been so afraid of for the past few months. My family—my father hurt you. They could have killed you." He raised his hand to brush his fingers across her cheek.

"But they didn't," Teri said, catching his hand against her face. "Aeneth and I are fine. N'hal patched us back up and there's no permanent damage."

"I should have done more. I should have stopped them."

Teri shushed him, placing his hand back down on the bedside. "I'an, it's not your fault. Everything has been put right and no one blames you for anything."

I'an shut his eyes for a moment and breathed deeply in an attempt to slow the spinning in his head. "How did they find me?" he asked, remembering the meandering trek through the forest to the clearing.

"One of Dathan's men was wearing dragonrider's wherhide. When he was questioned about it, he told them where you were."

I'an thought hard, bits and pieces of memory coming back to him. He had briefly returned to consciousness to the sound of dragonwings and men shouting. It had been dark and cold and smelled like rotting wood. He remembered hands pulling him out from where he had been hidden under a log, and then he had passed out again.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

"Dathan," he replied, his heart constricting at the memory. "He led me away from the militia camp to talk." He snorted. "It didn't go very well. How long have I been unconscious?"

"Just a day. How are you feeling?"

I'an held a quaking hand to his head. His skull was tender and bruised, throbbing where he touched it. "My eyes are doing funny things," he mumbled. "Maybe I'll go blind and we'll be a matching set."

"That's not funny," Teri said coldly, her eyes like ice.

"Sorry. Bad jokes are how I deal with stress." He laid his hand over Teri's. Her fingers wove through his, a small smile wavering on her lips.

"I'm so glad you're safe," he said.

"The same for you," she replied warmly. She leaned forward, her hand finding his chin before she planted a small kiss on his forehead.

"Where's Nydia?" he asked as she sat back. "Can I see her?"

Teri hesitated for a moment, emotions flitting across her face too quickly for him to read, then nodded. "I'll go get her."

I'an closed his eyes as Teri left his bedside. It relieved the aching in his skull slightly, but did nothing for the turmoil in his mind. Dathan was dead, his men undoubtedly soon to be hanged. How long would the rest of the band last without them? That half of his life was gone. Once, he had thought it would be a relief, but it just left him feeling empty. At least he had finally decided where his allegiances lay. It was a small consolation.

The door to the infirmary creaked open. I'an opened his eyes, fighting dizziness. Nydia stood in the doorway on her crutches. She clunked slowly down the room and sat in the chair Teri had vacated. Her eyes were swollen red and her lips trembled.

"Niddo," he whispered.

"I told you not to call me that." She didn't look at him, staring instead at her hands in her lap.

He sighed. "I'm sorry. Nydia." He reached out a hand to her but she pulled away, hiding her face. "It was you, wasn't it," he asked quietly, "who told Dathan about the eggs?"

She sniffled and balled her hands into fists. "Go on," she said hoarsely, her whole body shaking as she attempted to breathe normally. "Yell at me. I know what you're thinking. It was all my fault. Numbshell Nydia at her best." She fixed her swollen eyes on him, her face reddening.

"Nydia—"

"Ask me, how could I do such a thing? How could I betray the people who took care of me? Go on. And now everyone's been captured and Father's—" her words dissolved into a whimper, tears streaming down her face.

I'an dragged himself into a sitting position despite the pain slicing through his head. He reached out to Nydia as she sobbed, covering her face with her hands, and pulled her into an embrace. To his surprise, she didn't resist. She crawled up onto the bed and balled up at his side, burying her face in his shoulder. I'an held her tight and rocked her gently, his own tears dripping onto the back of her head. He couldn't remember the last time he had embraced his sister.

"I'm so sorry, Nydia," he whispered. "I won't leave you again." He kissed the top of her head. Her arms tightened around him as her sobs increased. They sat in each other's arms for a long time.

Later that day, Teri asked him if he had made peace with his sister.

"We're on our way," he replied sleepily. He was lying in bed again, his pain dulled after a dose of medicated wine. "It will take some time."

"And tears, by the sound of it."

"Dragonmen don't cry," I'an replied as indignantly as he could through his medicated haze.

"Maybe," Teri said, her face turned toward him, "but grieving sons do."

A lump began to form in his throat and he clenched his teeth to keep his lips from trembling. He waited to speak until he could trust his voice to stay steady. "Tell me about these green dragon eggs. What's the plan concerning them?"

Teri leaned forward and rested her good elbow on the bed. "Well, once they were all recovered from Dathan and his men, J'den moved them directly onto the Hatching Ground. They've been through some stress, but Aliana hopes it hasn't harmed the embryos' development. She guesses they'll hatch in another month."

I'an closed his eyes, his blood slowing as the drugs took effect. He was back in the Weyr, safe for the time being. His sister was nearby and the girl he loved even closer. The ragged holes in his life would heal with time. The pleasant rhythms of Teri's voice washed over him, lulling him slowly to sleep.


	22. Epilogue

Well, here it is, the last chapter. Thanks for sticking with the story to the end! It's been a lot of fun and I've really appreciated the feedback and comments. Happy reading :)

* * *

><p>EPILOGUE<p>

* * *

><p>The sun shone high in a sapphire sky on the day the weyrlings' flight training was to begin. No Thread was due and the atmosphere in the Weyr was akin to that of a rest day. Riders congregated around the weyrling training yard, or within eyeshot, chattering idly as they waited for the training to begin. O'shon, the Weyrlingmaster, paid them no heed, but his young charges gazed at the spectators with wide eyes. These weyrlings had become accustomed to some extra attention, but never this much. They were the smallest class the Weyr had ever seen, both in number and stature.<p>

Of the nine green dragon eggs that had sat on the Hatching Ground, two never hatched. They had remained motionless as the others rocked and cracked to release the burgeoning lives within. The two stillborn dragonets had passed silently sometime in the previous months, unknown and unmourned by their dragon kin. The remaining seven more than made up for it in liveliness. They were all green, in various shades, stripes, and spots, and all little.

The weyrlings stood by their undersized partners, buckling on their harnesses. The greens chattered in excitement, bringing a scowl to O'shon's weathered face.

"Shards, they sound like a flock of toothless old women," a light-haired brownrider commented from his vantage point at the entrance to the training yard.

The dark-haired greenrider at his side planted her elbow in his ribs. "Shut up, I'an, and show some respect. Those are Hanoth's children out there, you know."

I'an frowned and pursed his lips, watching the greens fidget in excitement. "So what does that make me? Their stepfather? I'm not ready for that kind of responsibility."

The girl gulped, holding a protective hand over her belly. "I guess this is a bad time then, to tell you about the baby."

I'an started, stammering incredulously. "Wh—what? Teri? What baby?"

Teri dissolved into laughter, unable to keep her face expressionless any longer.

"That's not funny." His scowl faltered as he unsuccessfully tried to stifle his own chuckles. He mussed her hair. "You're terrible."

"It's only what you deserve, after everything I've put up with," she replied, smirking.

"And you call me a liar. Don't scare me like that again." He shook his head. "We can't have children. Nydia would make a terrible aunt."

Teri rolled her eyes. "Did you hear the message she sent? Her apprenticeship at the Beasthold was confirmed."

I'an smiled, his grey eyes sad. "So she's staying at Keroon. I just got her back and she's gone again."

"We do have dragons, you know," Teri reminded him gently. "We'll just fly over to visit on our next rest day."

He inhaled and nodded. "Your old home. You haven't been back yet, have you? That'll be a shock for everyone when they find out you're a dragonrider."

"And healer," Teri added. "I fight sickness more than spores."

"We'll see how long that lasts. Wait, we're missing it!" I'an said, grabbing her shoulder.

The first of the weyrling pairs had lifted off the ground, wobbling slightly. The young rider's face broke out in an ecstatic smile, his little green bugling in triumph.

"I see them." Teri's grin echoed the weyrling's. "Aeneth's watching from the weyr."

I'an shaded his eyes to watch the rest of the class' ascent. "They made it, Teri. Our little greens are flying."

"They're dragons," she replied. Her eyes were closed, the sunlight shining on her upturned face. "Flying is what they were born for."

I'an wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close to his side. The two riders watched the young weyrlings rise into the blue summer sky, borne aloft on gleaming dragonwings.


End file.
